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THE 

Economy  of  Education 


BY  ^ 

W.  A.  STURDY. 


AUTHOR   OF 

"RIGHT  AND  WRONG"        "THE  OPEN  DOOR" 
"THE  DEGENERACY  OF  ARISTOCRACY" 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 


BOSTON : , 

J.  D.  BONNELL  &  SON 
1909 


»t 


^% 


Copyright  1909 

W.  A.  STURDY, 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


TO  THE  SCHOOL  TEACHERS  OF  AMERICA 


194247 


INTRODUCTION. 

"God  created  man  in  his  own  image."  This  agrees 
with  the  cognate  fact  of  birth,  and  no  person  can  dispute 
the  knowledge  of  his  own  existence  because  he  cannot 
prove  how  God  could  create  him.  It  is  enough  to  know 
the  fact  of  one's  own  discovery,  that  existence  was  not 
revealed  in  any  literal  form.  That  is,  man  discovered  the 
facts  without  being  informed  by  any  method  of  philology. 
He  had  no  reason  to  doubt  that  his  image  was  that  of 
God,  and  after  learning  words  and  being  told  by  others  of 
similar  likeness  that  they  also  had  the  same  impression, 
which  really  did  not  change  the  fact  of  its  being  previ- 
ously known.  It  was  merely  confirmatory  of  mutual  sat- 
isfaction. 

Now  to  be  informed  by  the  same  literal  vision,  it  is 
more,  it  is  the  truth  and  well  known  by  educators  who 
lack  the  courage  to  admit  it  in  such  simple  terms  that  the 
poor  and  illiterate  might  readily  understand  that  knowl- 
edge is  truth  or  not  worth  knowing.  The  most  import- 
ant feature  that  the  poor  and  illiterate  are  anxious  to 
obtain  from  a  teacher,  is  the  fact  withheld,  that  spiritual 
knowledge  is  free,  but  literal  knowledge  is  extremely  ex- 
pensive and  can  only  be  obtained  by  excessive  labor  or 
an  extravagant  outlay  of  money.  It  is  either  political  or 
commercial,  and  frequently  both,  when  viewed  in  a  gen- 
eral sense.  It  does  not  exclude  the  possibility  that  phi- 
lanthropists are  sincerely  striving  to  float  a  rotten  insti- 
tution that  can  only  be  purified  by  sinking. 


INTRODUCTION. 

What  reform  ever  took  place  that  did  not  depend 
upon  the  principle  of  empiricism?  Every  scientific  dis- 
covery and  mechanical  invention  have  always  been  em- 
pirical and  doubtless  room  enough  for  it  to  continue. 
Passive  harmony  has  great  attraction  and  however  much 
it  is  taught  or  preached  it  can  only  lead  to  destruction, 
for  progress  and  civilization  are  as  dependent  upon  ac- 
tivity as  vegetable  life  is  upon  sunshine.  It  is  idle  to 
maintain  that  reforms  can  only  occur  from  organization, 
for  organizations  are  as  combative  as  individuals,  and 
when  the  purpose  is  commercial  or  political  an  organiza- 
tion can  be  as  tyrannical  as  ancient  slave  hunting.  Hence 
reform  is  empirical  from  necessity,  for  when  the  indi- 
vidual is  diligently  seeking  the  luxuries  of  life  by  being 
persuaded  by  a  teacher  that  literal  knowledge  will  enable 
him  to  obtain  such  with  the  least  physical  exertion,  his 
very  knowledge  of  letters  and  ability  to  read  should  con- 
vince him  it  was  an  imposition  upon  others.  He  could 
always  commence  reform  at  once  by  experimenting  upon 
himself.  Preachers,  teachers,  and  leaders  of  every  char- 
acter will  not  teach  economy  in  whatever  they  offer  for 
sale,  any  more  than  a  storekeeper  will  fill  his  store  with 
goods  and  then  try  to  teach  a  customer  that  the  goods 
would  be  an  injury  to  him.  A  leader  also  seeking  to 
live  luxuriously  with  the  greatest  economy  of  exertion 
will  always  patronize  profitable   followers. 

When  wickedness  is  increasing  in  proportion  to  the 
additional  cost  of  literal  education  it  should  begin  to 
dawn  upon  the  prospective  victims  that  the  economy  of 
education  would  have  the  effect  to  equalize  the  product 
of  labor  and  also  relieve  the  distress  of  the  educated  who 
are  suffering  from  disappointment,  a  disease  that  the 
illiterate  are  not  troubled  with.    To  call  the  attention  of 


INTRODUCTION. 

educators  to  what  they  must  know  to  be  a  fact  would 
simply  betray  an  antithesis  of  words.  That  educators 
know  it  is  proved  by  their  effort  to  make  literal  educa- 
tion as  expensive  and  complex  as  possible,  for  history  is 
proof  that  the  educating  of  slaves  was  never  profitable. 
The  educator  that  is  sincere  in  trying  to  improve  society, 
could  not  consistently  object  to  the  simplicity  of  methods 
that  would  all  the  more  assist  in  the  improvement.  Surely 
no  one  could  claim  that  assistance  was  being  rendered 
by  attraction  that  was  continually  being  elevated  out  of 
reach.  The  fact  that  credulity  is  taken  advantage  of  and 
cupidity  encouraged  is  glaring  proof  that  the  present 
educational  system  is  not  philanthropic  or  what  it  pre- 
tends to  be. 

If  schools  are  being  conducted  for  the  benefit  of  teach- 
ers and  politicians,  the  public  should  know  it.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  literal  education  is  a  necessity  for  the  pro- 
tection of  a  "free  government"  the  simpler  the  method 
the  more  it  would  conform  to  the  declaration  of  purpose. 
When  a  truth  depends  upon  political  corruption  for  pro- 
tection it  presents  a  problem  that  every  human  being  on 
earth  has  an  interest  in.  In  a  concise  form  it  could  be 
asked  whether  man  made  letters  or  letters  made  man?  If 
God  is  the  creator  of  all  things  it  would  be  interesting 
to  learn  how  the  mere  knowledge  of  letters  entitled  a 
man  or  any  group  of  men  to  monopolize  a  common  privi- 
lege for  their  personal  profit.  If  it  is  divine  authority  or 
by  man's  own  fiat,  defence  is  equally  in  order,  and  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  will  not  be  as  effective  in  the  future 
as  it  has  been  in  the  past. 

This  is  a  discussion  of  words  and  their  relations  to 
institutional  systems  and  schemes;  besides,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  any  active  principle  that    was    not  con- 


INTRODUCTION. 

cerned  with  education  in  some  form.  Personality  does 
not  enter  into  this  subject  beyond  the  willingness  of  any 
person  to  make  it  such.  It  is  therefore  not  a  personal 
conflict,  but  the  reverse,  for  the  attempt  is  being  made 
to  show  the  sacredness  of  persons,  as  against  the  ambigu- 
ity of  words  and  institutions  that  are  especially  devoted 
to  teaching  and  training  a  personal  dependence,  to  the 
extent  even  of  compulsion  being  used  to  deprive  people 
of  their  personality.  This  feature  will  be  treated  in  de- 
tail. 

It  will  give  reasons  for  considering  the  very  essence 
of  knowledge  as  presented  by  cognition  when  words  and 
education  are  not  concerned  at  all,  suggesting  the  possi- 
bility that  knowledge  in  its  strict  sense  is  not  effected  by 
education.  Besides,  if  it  were  recognized  publicly  that  it 
was  impossible  to  express  the  truth  by  any  word  that  was 
ever  coined,  it  would  simplify  education  to  such  an  extent 
that  it  would  release  an  army  of  educators  so  they  might 
seek  other  employment. 

Because  people  become  broken  to  an  habitual  life  and 
taught  to  silently  bear  whatever  burden  circumstances 
places  upon  them,  it  will  never  justify  the  oppressive 
character  of  the  strong  in  preaching  and  teaching  con- 
tentment to  the  weak,  when  they  know  they  are  being 
imposed  upon  by  the  very  teachers  who  are  offering  re- 
form for  sale  which  continues  to  make  greater  reforms 
necessary.  The  enmity  shown  toward  anyone  who  dares 
to  interfere  with  another's  commercial  traffic  in  educa- 
tion proves  that  such  business  thrives  upon  the  innocent 
credulity  of  the  illiterate  masses. 

The  multitudes  of  synonyms  that  are  derived  from  a 
number  of  written  languages  are  for  the  same  purpose 
as  that  for  which  they  are  first  established,  to  disguise 


INTRODUCTION. 

the  duplicity  of  teachers  and  philosophers  who  could 
employ  esoteric  words,  while  the  same  subjects  could 
be  discussed  in  exoteric  words ;  the  former  method  being 
employed  to  prevent  the  common  people  from  aspiring 
to  ever  know  as  much  as  their  teachers.  If  ancient  con- 
ditions have  become  obsolete  why  should  the  implements 
be  retained  and  laboriously  taught  to  youth  when  a  child 
even  knows  that  an  object  is  not  improved  by  having 
half  a  dozen  words  attached  to  it?  It  not  only  con- 
founds a  language  but  enables  a  skilful  linguist  to  stifle 
the  simple  argument  of  an  inquirer  by  defeating  the  very 
object  of  words — simply  that  we  may  portray  our 
thoughts  understandingly.  That  synonyms  continue 
to  be  employed  suggests  an  object  detrimental  to  the 
common  people  who  are  persuaded  to  believe  that  the 
mere  learning  of  words  is  knowledge.  The  fact  that  no 
thought  was  ever  expressed  in  words  according  to  the 
strict  sense  of  a  thought,  makes  it  absolutely  necessary 
to  employ  whatever  words  will  appear  to  portray  the 
thought,  entirely  regardless  of  either  technical  words  or 
their  classification.  Any  method  of  mutual  understand- 
ing is  just  as  sacred  to-day  as  when  the  desire  was  first 
breathed  into  the  body  of  man  by  the  Supreme  Spirit, 
and  in  order  to  show  how  simple  education  could  be  it 
will  be  a  privilege  to  exemplify  it  by  practice. 

If  it  could  be  proved  that  knowledge  cannot  be  liter- 
ally taught  or  the  truth  expressed  in  words,  it  would  be 
a  reform  as  shocking  as  when  machinery  was  suddenly 
introduced  to  replace  hand  labor,  yet  a  careful  observer 
could  not  deny  that  machine  tools  have  advanced  more 
rapidly  than  literal  tools.  It  certainly  means  something 
when  pagan  literature  is  taught  to  the  plastic  mind  of 
youth  and  endorsed  by  modern  educators  as  knowledge, 


INTRODUCTION. 

when  ancient  machine  tools  have  long  since  been  dis- 
carded. 

Hence  if  the  convenient  implements  of  common  use 
can  be  so  simply  made  it  would  appear  reasonable  that 
a  speculation  at  least  could  be  considered  when  it  might 
be  possible  to  improve  education  and  brush  away  the  old 
junk  of  the  past  or  permit  it  to  rest  in  peace  on  the  pages 
of  history.  The  fundamental  principle  of  idolatry  was 
the  deification  of  man's  work,  including  literal  knowl- 
edge; it  was  thus  made  to  appear  that  knowledge  de- 
pended upon  inspired  teachers  who  had  the  exclusive 
control  of  letters.  The  motive  for  maintaining  pagan 
methods  under  different  names  is  the  same  now  as  it 
was  then,  simply  to  keep  the  producing  man  subordinate 
to  the  non-producer.  That  education  is  a  two-edged 
sword  is  no  secret.  David  demonstrated  that  defence 
was  more  dependent  upon  faith  and  courage  than  the 
bluster  of  noise  to  prevent  the  common  people  from  be- 
coming too  common.  The  economy  of  education,  would 
benefit  the  teacher  as  much  as  the  taught,  for  conditions 
are  self-adjusting,  and  a  strict  orthodox  in  whatever 
opinion  he  holds  to  is  more  a  subject  of  pity  than  charity, 
too  often  the  result  of  cultivating  mistakes  rather  than 
employing  his  mental  faculties  in  the  investigation  of 
facts. 

A  lexicon  that  is  biased  in  the  interest  of  specific  or- 
ganization is  not  fit  for  a  public  school,  when  it  is  pre- 
tended that  such  a  school  teaches  patriotism  and  moral 
obligation  in  accord  with  the  Bible.  It  is  the  purpose  of 
this  writing  to  demonstrate  the  present  evils  of  the  educa- 
tional system  of  America  and  show  the  need  of  an 
American  literature  based  upon  American  principles  of 
progress,  for  the  introduction  of  economy  in  education. 


INDEX   TO   CHAPTERS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     BIRTH 13 

ir.     LANGUAGE    21 

III.  WORDS    28 

IV.  NATURAL  EDUCATION    36 

V.    LITERAL   EDUCATION 44 

VL     PEDAGOGY    51 

VIL     SCIENCE    S8 

VIIL     TEMPTATION    65 

IX.     DEMONOLOGY    72 

X.     "TRANSCENDENTALISM"    80 

XL     FREEDOM 88 

XIL     SLAVERY    96 

XIIL    HABIT    103 

XIV.    ASSOCIATION    in 

XV.     INDEPENDENCE    119 

XVr.     OBLIGATION    127 

XVIL     TESTIMONY    132 

XVIIL     AUTHORITY    140 

XIX.     RESPONSIBILITY    148 

XX.    COMPULSION    155 

XXL     OSTENTATION     164 

XXIL    INFINITE  FORCE    174 

XXIIL    THE  BALANCE  OF  FORCE  ...183 

XXIV.    VAGUE  TERMS  192 

XXV.    CLASSICAL   SOCIETY  200 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXVI.  THE  PETITION  OF  THE  BABE  211 

XXVII.  LAW  AND  ORDER   220 

XXVIII.  NATURAL   INTELLIGENCE    228 

XXIX.  PERSONAL    LIBERTY    235 

XXX.  DIRECT  REVELATION   245 

XXXL  THEORY  VERSUS  TRUTH   257 

XXXn.  PERSONAL  CONSISTENCY  264 

XXXm.  CHRISTIANITY    273 

XXXIV.  CHURCH    GOVERNMENT    283 

XXXV.  MORAL   RECTITUDE  293 

XXXVL  IDEAL  SYSTEMS  302 

XXXVIL  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 310 

XXXVm.  PURE  REASON   320 

XXXIX.  OBSERVATION    328 

XL.  THE  ECONOMY  OF  GROWTH   338 

XLL  THE  SAGACITY  OF  EDUCATION  347 

XLIL  REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT 356 

XLIir.  PROGRSSIVE   INTELLIGENCE    366 

XLIV.  WHAT  IT  MEANS    375 


^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  ECONOMY  OF 
EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  I. 


.    BIRTH.  •; 

THE  truth  is  an  etsablished  fact  and  needs  no  comment, 
but  the  distribution  of  it  is  practical  education  and 
the  economy  of  which  would  aid  distribution.  Thus  what- 
ever could  be  more  cheaply  produced  the  benefit  would 
be  more  general.  There  should  be  no  misunderstanding 
between  the  correspondence  of  literal  implements  and 
the  mechanical,  if  the  truth  is  the  end  in  view.  Rules  are 
despotic,  and  were  it  possible  to  enforce  them  strictly  in- 
vention and  human  progress  would  be  impossible.  Thus 
to  affirm  that  knowledge  is  not  dependent  upon  educa- 
tion would  be  such  a  radical  departure  from  present  ac- 
cepted conditions  that  for  a  person  to  assert  it  would  be 
to  invite  persecution.  It  is  not  necessary  to  assert  it  or 
deny  it  by  any  method  of  education  that  man  has  yet  dis- 
covered. It  is  the  truth  that  every  person  in  the  posses- 
sion of  human  faculties  sufficient  to  assert  his  own  pres- 
ence, knows  it  to  be  a  fact.  It  would  be  absurd  to  try 
to  convince  a  dead  man  that  he  was  dead  and  equally 
absurd  to  convince  a  live  man  that  he  was  alive.     It  is 


14  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

therefore  only  what  a  person  is  willing  to  admit,  that 
education  is  at  all  concerned  with.  That  is,  what  a  per- 
son knows  and  what  he  will  admit  that  he  knows  are  not 
in  correspondence  outside  of  personality  itself. 

Birth  is  just  as  much  a  beginning  to-day  as  it  was  at 
any  primeval  period  of  which  literal  records  give  any 
account.  When  a  person  can  be  convinced,  although  he 
lives,  that  he  is  still  to  be  born,  he  is  practically  dead  un- 
til he  discovers  the  fact  himself  that  he  lives.  That 
could  be  one  interpretation  of  the  familiar  passage  in 
Scripture  "Ye  must  be  born  again."  Whether  it  is  a  lit- 
eral truth  that  "God  created  man  in  His  own  image"  or 
"to  His  own  image,"  as  the  Catholic  Bible  puts  it,  is  im- 
material to  the  more  important  fact  involved  between  a 
material  birth  and  a  spiritual  birth.  That  is,  the  ma- 
terial birth  is  dependent,  while  the  "new  birth,"  the  spir- 
itual, is  independent. 

This  could  be  considered  to  be  educational  and  yet 
non-instructive  in  the  sense  of  presumitive  teaching,  for 
literal  teaching  can  only  be  taught  by  signs  and  words 
that  are  corruptible  which  suggests  the  end  for  which 
this  writing  is  intended. 

Providing  there  are  no  words  that  can  express  the 
truth,  by  reason  of  their  corruptive  character  it  does  not 
exclude  the  expression  of  truth  by  correspondence,  for 
while  language  is  dependent  upon  association  or  environ- 
ments it  should  be  carefully  observed  by  anyone  inter- 
ested in  economics  that  language  is  a  genitive  faculty 
from  which  words  are  derived.  It  presents  such  a  com- 
plex difficulty  of  expression  that  a  person  can  be  robbed 
of  his  birthright  by  being  taught  to  believe  that  language 
is  subordinate  to  words.  It  is  not  education  proper,  but 
political  education  that  thrives  by  symbolism  and  dia- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION.  I5 

letics,  the  inheritance  derived  from  the  pagans  who  dei- 
fied words  by  giving  to  the  word  knowledge  spiritual  at- 
tributes. For  instance,  knowledge  was  acknowledged  to 
be  truth,  therefore  the  word  knowledge  was  deified  like 
a  graven  image  and  by  the  faculty  of  the  learned  what- 
ever was  labeled  knowledge  in  letters  was  heresy  to  dis- 
pute. Socrates  dared  to  dispute  it  at  the  expense  of  his 
life  four  hundred  years  before  Christ  was  crucified  for 
the  same  reason.  Therefore  while  knowledge  is  true  the 
word  may  be  false,  and  how  one  knows  without  being 
taught  in  words  is  simple,  and  economical,  while  words 
are  made  merchandise  of  for  commercial  profit  and  po- 
litical preferment.  If  such  is  not  the  case,  surely  the 
economy  of  education  would  not  detract  from  its  car- 
dinal virtues. 

The  child  knows  before  it  has  the  least  conception  of 
letters,  or  just  as  soon  as  it  can  taste  and  feel.  Because 
memory  is  too  weak  to  engross  the  first  conception  of  a 
babe,  it  does  not  deceive  the  parent.  It  is  a  proof  of  cog- 
nition, the  revelation  of  which  being  strictly  spiritual  by 
reason  of  independent  action  that  neither  words  nor  the 
parent  can  account  for.  When  every  birth  presents  this 
same  phenomenon  its  educational  character  cannot  be  too 
carefully  observed.  Normal  condition  appears  to  be 
helpless  and  so  recorded  in  words  that  reflect  more  bias 
than  the  innocence  of  the  babe  is  capable  of. 

But  the  babe  is  protected  by  the  same  unseen  spirit 
that  does  not  forsake  it  in  its  weakness.  The  parent  may 
be  as  illiterate  as  language  prior  to  written  signs  corre- 
sponding with  utterance,  yet  the  parent  is  endowed  by 
the  same  spirit  that  the  babe  is  in  touch  with — the  spirit 
of  love.  It  reveals  more  wisdom  than  all  the  literature 
that  was  ever  written.  It  reflects  the  relation  of  spiritual 


l6  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

knowledge  to  the  literal  and  proves  that  God  protects 
the  human  race  by  the  revelation  of  spiritual  knowledge 
before  any  tinge  of  literal  knowledge  is  present.  What- 
ever volume  of  literal  accumulation  may  exist,  and  how- 
ever much  evolution  may  have  improved  the  human 
race,  its  continuity  is  just  as  dependent  upon  spiritual 
knowledge  as  any  primeval  birth  that  letters  ever  re- 
corded. 

At  a  more  advanced  period  the  babe  falls  out  of  bed 
and  discovers  gravitation  even  before  Newton  was  born. 
It  also  remains  to  be  discovered  how  a  person  could 
learn  the  sense  of  fear  or  could  exist  except  from  a 
"fall"  that  gravitation  was  more  responsible  for  than  the 
wickedness  of  adult  man  who  would  employ  his  literary 
talent  in  denying  the  purity  of  his  own  birth.  The  child 
is  the  victim  of  fear  and  training  both,  besides  every  evil 
that  words  ever  recorded  must  be  met  and  successfully 
overcome,  for  the  price  of  knowledge  is  at  the  expense 
of  a  "fall" — it  could  be  termed  evil  without  disturbing 
the  fact.  To  attempt  to  teach  in  standard  works  of  bi- 
ology and  philology  that  a  child  is  only  in  part  natural, 
to  be  made  whole  by  education,  is  ingeniously  admitted 
in  words  and  also  denied,  with  an  apparent  purpose  that 
an  educated  man  claiming  to  be  such  could  not  deny 
without  admitting  his  own  pedantry.  If  pagan  scholars 
contributed  anything  to  learning,  it  was  in  teaching  pos- 
terity to  profit  by  their  mistakes  in  playing  with  words 
so  ingeniously  as  to  hide  the  truth  more  effectually  in 
their  pretended  zeal  to  reveal  it. 

That  knowledge  and  truth  both  are  bestowed  upon  the 
child  at  birth  make  him  the  teacher  rather  than  the  sub-^ 
ject  to  be  taught.  Because  the  child  does  not  depend  upon 
words  for  the  comprehension  of  knowledge  is  significant 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1/ 

of  the  relation  of  innate  knowledge  to  surrounding  ob- 
jects. A  child's  knowledge  derived  from  the  conception 
of  pain  at  its  first  fall  established  a  foundation  for  the 
word  fear.  This  fact,  to  anyone  willing  to  observe  it, 
suggests  the  origin  of  language  regardless  of  the  written 
authorities  upon  the  subject.  What  is  important  to  ob- 
serve in  relation  to  the  inborn  knowledge  that  the  child 
is  constantly  demonstrating  to  its  parents,  is  the  fact  that 
words  are  products  of  the  protoplasm  of  knowledge  and 
the  effort  to  employ  words  to  analyze  their  own  source 
has  been  successful  only  in  exposing  the  motive.  The 
discovery  that  words  could  be  arranged  to  represent  the 
natural  sounds  and  symbolize  objects,  was  taken  advan- 
tage of  regardless  of  truth  or  retribution.  It  introduced 
social  castes  and  slavery  in  proportion  to  a  military  or- 
ganization to  enforce  it. 

The  real  source  of  knowledge  the  literary  learned  were 
never  ignorant  of,  but  the  apparent  helplessness  of  the 
masses  has  led  the  learned  into  such  a  state  of  conten- 
tion that  they  are  gradually  becoming  as  helpless  as  their 
former  slaves  and  victims.  That  knowledge  is  truth  is 
just  as  potent  to-day  as  when  the  learned  first  conceived 
the  advantage  of  appropriating  the  product  by  teaching 
fear  as  a  means  of  subjugation  of  the  timid. 

Children  are  being  continually  crucified  on  the  cross 
of  greed  in  the  name  of  education.  The  cardinal  prin- 
ciple of  education  and  religion  is  not  involved  in  this 
crime.  It  is  the  wickedness  of  adult  man  to  profit  upon 
the  weakness  of  a  child  that  falls  in  innocence  that  it 
may  rise  in  knowledge.  Every  birth  is  a  rebuke  from 
God  against  this  unholy  practice.  It  is  not  a  mere  ideal 
figure  of  speculative  illustration,  but  a  continuous  recur- 
ring truth  that  no  parent  can  deny,  who  observes  the  in- 


l8  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

nocence  of  a  child  that  falls  in  its  effort  to  walk,  that  it 
might  rise  in  knowledge  and  battle  against  the  power  of 
greed  to  knock  it  down  again.  It  is  the  second  fall  that 
the  present  institution  of  education  is  accountable  for, 
and  when  did  God  ever  cease  to  punish  the  wicked  and 
reward  the  righteous?  It  is,  however,  a  spiritual  re- 
ward that  God  promises  against  the  material  reward 
that  is  the  limit  of  educational  institutions  to  promise. 

Is  the  fact  in  question,  that  a  babe  falls  out  of  bed  and 
learns  more  than  books  can  teach?  It  learns  language 
and  science  that  books  and  literature  are  mere  plagiarism 
in  comparison.  It  could  be  claimed  the  child  did  not  rep- 
resent a  literal  truth  and  therefore  the  teacher  of  letters 
is  not  a  plagiarist,  but  words  are  their  own  worst  enemy, 
for  they  present  such  a  complexed  paradox  as  to  appear 
miraculous  to  the  illiterate.  The  miracle  is  wholly  con- 
fined to  the  appearance,  yet  the  appearance  could  be  true, 
as  such,  while  the  effort  of  words  try  to  penetrate  be- 
yond facts  by  the  power  of  their  own  fiat.  It  will  not 
work,  however,  to  hide  a  "literal  truth"  behind  a  "figu- 
rative truth,"  and  then  reverse  the  position  to  confound 
the  understanding  of  the  simple-minded  whenever  cir- 
cumstances in  the  discussion  of  words  demand  it. 

The  situation  remains,  that  when  a  child  falls  out  of 
bed  it  presents  a  figure  of  speech  that  no  metaphor  in 
words  ever  compared.  It  embraces  language  (the  voice) 
knowledge  (the  sense  of  feeling)  and  also  science  from 
the  discovery  of  gravitation,  and  when  this  simple  fact  is 
of  daily  occurrence  the  relative  character  of  words  to 
knowledge  should  be  gracefully  admitted  by  the  learned 
who  must  know  it,  providing  they  are  willing  to  "drink 
deep  in  the  Pierian  spring  of  knowledge." 

The  child  is  certainly    not  ignorant   of    the   genitive 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I9 

principle  of  knowledge  after  falling  out  of  bed.    If  later 
the    seductive    character  of   words  present  a  temptation 
that  is  not  in  every  case  successfully  overcome,  it  is  well 
that  the  source  of  knowledge  cannot  be  reached  by  the 
greed  of  man  who  appears  to  prosper,  but  is  the  pros- 
perity worth  the  punishment  when  a  person  is  obliged 
to  deny  the  first  conception  of   knowledge    in  order  to 
maintain  the  appearance,  against  the  fact,  of  which  one's 
own  presence  is  the  evidence?     The    effort    of  man  to 
prove  his  fitness  to  supersede  the  divine  method  of  edu- 
cation would    appear  by  a    parent  forcibly    dropping  a 
child  to  the  floor  that  it  might  obtain  knowledge  by  the 
fall.    It  illustrates  the  propensity  of  man  to  assume  godly 
attributes,   for  the  correspondence  between  parent  and 
child  is  love,  and  the  confidence  of  the  child  in  the  parent 
once  betrayed  is  very  difficult    to    recover.      When  the 
parent  fails  to  practice  exactly  what  is  preached  the  child 
will  give  more  attention  to  the  discrepancy  than  to  the 
precepts.    The  same  would  hold  with  any  class  of  teach- 
ers that  failed  to  exemplify  with  minute  exactness  what- 
ever is  taught.    It  is  this  feature  that  will  not  justify  ed- 
ucation by  the  mere  sign,  the  word,  or  symbol,  having 
no  spiritual  equality  with  spirit  or  any   power   to  com- 
mand spirit.     If  life  had  been  so  ordered  with  human 
beings  that  they  moved  with  the  regularity  of  planets, 
danger  and  evils  would  not  be  encountered,  and  if  they 
could  be  anticipated  from  scientific  effort  to  explain  the 
source  of  life,  it  would  be  a  disorder  that  society  would 
not  tolerate  because  it  could  not  exist  in  the  absence  of 
gravitation  that  permits  the  units  of  society  to  act  inde- 
pendently of  despotic  rules  by  which  man  is  ever  trying 
to  destroy  himself,  except  for  the  new  comer  that  is  the 
real  master  of  the  situation. 


20  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Education  will  continue  just  as  long  as  babes  continue 
to  fall  and  thieves  continue  to  steal  in  disregard  of  all 
law  that  often  adds  to  the  evil  in  proportion  to  the  wick- 
edness of  the  law  maker. 

Birth  is  an  accident  to  the  person  born,  and  education 
follows  as  a  mere  continuity  of  accidents — it  could  be 
understood  as  experience.  The  babe  falling  out  of  bed 
is  typical  of  a  fall  of  any  character,  but  the  important 
feature  is,  that  a  fall  is  an  accident  as  much  so  as  the 
accident  of  birth,  and  the  word  experience  is  a  synonym 
definitely  relating  to  the  event  of  birth,  accident,  or  edu- 
cation. When  a  person  is  willing  to  admit  that  education 
is  experience  derived  from  accident,  such  a  person  is  on 
a  firm  foundation  with  a  fair  prospect  of  learning  some 
more.  It  has  been  shown  that  the  accident  of  a  fall 
teaches  a  child  knowledge — language  and  science  with- 
out any  assistance  from  the  parent  or  any  other  person. 
To  the  contrary  also  that  assisting  a  child  to  fall  as  the 
only  means  possible  by  which  the  child  could  become  ed- 
ucated would  not  only  be  cruel  but  ungodly,  and  contrary 
to  the  language  of  love.  Keeping  this  situation  in  view 
a  person  would  be  fully  equipped  to  learn  some  more. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION.  21 


CHAPTER  II. 


LANGUAGE. 


THE  treatment  of  Philology  as  the  science  of  Language 
in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica  is  remarkable  in  its 
treatment  of  facts,  and  still  more  remarkable  in  its  efforts 
to  hide  them.  The  man  is  a  very  inferior  scholar  to  search 
pre-historic  graves  to  find  the  origin  of  language.  The 
person  who  has  been  trained  to  follow  a  despotic  rule 
until  he  lacks  the  courage  to  try  any  other  path,  will  find 
just  what  he  was  told  he  would  find,  and  except  for  some 
unexpected  accident  he  will  find  nothing  except  what  the 
rule  applied  to.  Accidents  are  more  common  in  active 
life  than  they  are  in  graveyards.  Hence  people  go  too 
far  from  home  to  find  the  origin  of  language. 

It  is  much  easier  to  change  the  definition  of  a  symbol 
that  relates  to  a  fact  than  to  change  a  fact.  Human 
speech  is  a  genitive  principle  that  is  inborn  and  natural. 
No  person  is  indebted  to  abstract  education  for  the  privi- 
lege of  speaking.  It  is  the  fact,  rather  than  the  numerous 
symbols  that  relate  to  methods  of  education  that  a  person 
desires  to  know — that  is,  what  belongs  to  himself  or  for 
what  he  is  indebted  to  others.  When  the  word  language 
was  applied  to  the  natural  and  literal  (artificial)  both, 
human  speech  and  thought  were  superseded  by  the  polity 
of  rulers  who  were  jealous  of  their  power.  To  preserve 
the  commonness  of  natural  knowledge  anything  educa- 
tional or  religious  was  strictly  guarded.     It  was  neces- 


22  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

sary  therefore  to  give  letters  or  literal  language  the  ap- 
pearance of  controlling  the  natural  simply  because  the 
dialetic  could  be  extravagantly  extended. 

Language  is  just  as  much  an  attribute  of  human  birth 
as  the  eyes  or  sense  of  feeling,  or  any  sense  conception 
that  consciousness  reveals.  Now  v^hen  a  philologist 
tries  to  teach  that  the  study  of  words  will  reveal  the 
origin  of  language  he  must  necessarily  deny  his  own 
birth  or  the  fact  that  the  origin  of  language  was  be- 
stowed upon  him  before  having  any  idea  of  letters. 
To  make  it  appear  in  words  that  the  Creator  created 
man  only  in  part,  while  animals  and  all  creeping 
things  were  made  complete,  casts  an  incongruity 
tipon  the  situation  that  any  unbiased  person  could 
scarcely  fail  to  observe.  It  has  nothing  to  do  with  literal 
revelations,  it  concerns  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  vera- 
city of  man  who  was  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  speech 
(language)  from  which  signs  were  made  to  correspond 
with  the  sound  of  the  voice,  which  were  afterward  em- 
ployed to  deny  natural  language  that  even  animals  were 
endowed  with  minus  the  ability  to  make  words. 

Surely  animals  were  more  reverent  and  contented  with 
mere  natural  language  than  man  who  was  endowed  with 
a  knowledge  of  writing  signs  of  the  natural  language,  by 
which  his  experience  could  be  recorded  and  preserved 
after  the  material  body  returned  to  earth.  No  educated 
man  can  without  betraying  his  prejudice  claim  that  natu- 
ral man  was  so  incomplete  that  the  completion  depended 
upon  a  system  of  education  organized  before  the  natural 
man  was  born.  According  to  the  Science  of  Language 
in  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  "Man  as  we  now  see  him  is 
a  two- fold  being;  in  part  the  child  of  nature,  as  to  his 
capacities  and    desires,    his    endowments    of    mind  and 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  23 

body ;  in  part  the  creature  of  education,  by  training  in  the 
knowledge,  the  arts,  the  social  conduct,  of  which  his  pre- 
decessors have  gained  possession."  It  is  worthy  of  the 
Greek  Sophist  Protagoras  to  have  declared  "God's  work 
was  so  poorly  performed  that  it  had  to  be  corrected  by 
man,  and  he,  Protagoras,  for  compensation,  would  be' 
willing  to  perform  it  himself." 

Words  have  been  so  corrupted  for  profitable  educa- 
tional purposes  that  no  sooner  is  an  affirmative  made 
than  words  can  be  found  to  dispute  it,  while  Greed 
goes  on  its  way  rejoicing.  The  ability  to  change  the 
meanings  of  words  to  fit  an  end  in  view,  was,  and  is,  an 
important  feature  of  education;  it  would,  therefore,  be 
more  difficult  to  show  what  was  not  education  than  what 
was,  for  every  human  action  is  educational.  It  is  no 
trouble,  however,  to  show  that  natural  education  is  as 
free  as  air  and  sunshine,  which  would  be  equally  as  ex- 
pensive as  the  artificial  if  man  could  discover  a  method' 
to  make  it  so.  It  is  a  poor  excuse  to  justify  the  syste- 
matic arrangement  of  words  and  ascetic  rules  protected 
by  the  state  on  the  simple  ground  that  it  is  possible.  It 
is  neither  a  question  of  right  or  wrong,  for  it  is  no  secret 
that  educated  man  even  will  do  wrong  for  a  compensa- 
tion in  money  or  vainglory.  The  point  is,  the  education 
derived  from  God  (natural  education)  is  free,  while  lit- 
eral education  derived  from  the  ingenuity  of  man  grows 
more  expensive  in  proportion  to  the  victim's  willingness 
to  pay  for  it.  If  this  is  moral  rectitude  to  take  advantage 
of  the  weakness  or  primitive  character  of  man,  which  is 
natural,  it  is  certainly  contrary  to  the  spiritual  education 
which  is  also  natural  and  free,  bestowed  upon  man  at 
birth  direct  from  his  Creator.  The  question  for  the  in- 
dividual to  solve  is :  did  God's  gift  of  natural  intelligence, 


24  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

or  could  it  be  objected  to  that  natural  intelligence  is  not 
rational  intelligence,  but  the  point  again ;  did  God  include 
in  the  privilege  of  man  to  do  wrong  the  privilege  of 
charging  his  victim  for  being  warned  against  the  dan- 
ger of  being  victimized?  Again,  is  wickedness  the  fault 
of  the  man  who  is  ignorant,  and  of  its  being  wicked,  or 
he  who  knows  it? 

To  return  to  the  philologist's  statement  that  "man  is 
two-fold,  part  natural  and  part  the  result  of  education." 
Education  being  every  active  influence  that  is  presented 
to  the  child  from  the  day  of  his  birth,  would  it  not,  to 
anyone  interested  in  the  economy  of  education,  be  well 
to  notice  the  specific  character  of  education  that  forms 
the  other  part  of  man  before  he  becomes  a  full-fledged 
man?  Education?  certainly!  But  it  appears  that  God 
and  man  both  are  educating  the  child.  No  one  can 
scarcely  question  that  the  education  of  God  is  anything 
but  good,  and  again  the  point  returns.  Is  the  education 
from  man  better  simply  because  it  costs  more? 

The  limit  of  words  is  to  combat  words,  for  the  com- 
munion of  spirit  is  wisely  bestowed  upon  man  entirely 
separate  from  literal  words.  The  philologist  declares 
that  the  predecessors  have  gained  possession  of  the  in- 
struments of  knowledge  previous  to  the  arrival  of  a  new 
comer  upon  earth.  Could  the  child  be  deprived  of  its 
spiritual  title,  it  would  surely  be  forever  consigned  to 
obedience  to  the  will  of  its  predecessors.  For  what  pur- 
pose other  than  pecuniary  profit  will  a  person  withhold 
this  fact,  and  try  to  manipulate  words  in  the  effort  to 
combat  the  spiritual  knowledge  that  was  given  to  the 
child  to  keep  as  long  as  it  had  strength  and  courage 
enough  to  defend  it?  If  predecessors  were  not  swept  off 
the  earth  with  the  broom  of  natural  adjustment,  making 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  2$ 

their  despotic  rules  obsolete,  barbarism,  savagery  and 
slavery  would  have  been  established  beyond  the  possibil- 
ity of  reform.  The  elasticity  of  words  in  competition 
with  the  spiritual  or  natural  language  from  which  they 
are  derived  has  always  been  a  defeat  for  words  since 
David  slew  Goliath.  Thus,  if  an  observer  will  give  but 
a  brief  attention  to  this  matter,  he  might  learn  some  more 
even  if  he  is  already  well  stocked  with  knowledge. 
Natural  language — spiritual  language,  is  the  prototype  of 
words — the  literal  or  artificial.  There  is  no  sense  to  any 
word  ever  spoken  or  written,  any  more  than  the  word 
sugar  could  convey  sweetness  to  the  sense  of  taste.  Ad- 
mitting this  statement  to  be  a  fact,  natural  language  is 
just  as  pure  as  the  first  petition  for  attention  the  child 
utters.  It  is  the  copy  (words)  also  called  language  that 
is  temporal  and  thereby  corruptible. 

Natural  language  is  as  diversified  as  the  artificial  copy 
and  equally  as  potent,  with  this  difiference,  however,  nat- 
ural language  can  supply  more  signs  as  rapidly  as  the 
words  of  our  predecessors  wear  out.  The  truth  is, 
the  language  of  Nature  is  not  a  correspondence  of  words, 
however  potent  words  may  be  in  taking  notes  of  the  sit- 
uation. The  language  of  love,  the  language  of  birds,  the 
language  of  flowers,  the  language  of  the  beautiful,  in 
fact,  all  the  organs  of  sense,  are  in  correspondence  with 
whatever  is  spiritual  without  the  assistance  of  a  single 
word.  For  instance,  the  language  of  love  is  the  touch 
sublime.  It  is  the  supreme  educator,  universally  free, 
requiring  no  listener  in  words,  and  the  most  remarkable 
feature  is,  that  one  has  only  to  be  bom  to  know  it. 

"For  what  to  shun,  will  no  great  knowledge  need, 
But  what  to  seek,  were  a  task  indeed." 


26  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

The  language  of  the  beautiful  is  in  correspondence,  not 
necessarily  with  words,  for  the  correspondence  is 
equally  possible  without  them.  Words  could  not  be 
swept  off  the  earth  any  more  than  wickedness  and  tempt- 
ations, for  educators  would  not  be  in  "possession"  of  the 
instruments  of  dispute  which  educators  of  the  highest 
type  are  constantly  using  in  dispute  between  themselves, 
only  agreeing  that  inferiors  must  be  obedient  or  the  profit 
of  educating  them  will  disappear.  If  it  is  not  so,  for 
what  reason  do  professors  disagree  in  methods  of  educa- 
tion while  they  are  agreed  to  use  technical  and  esoteric 
words  for  no  possible  reason  except  that  their  victims 
will  learn  that  education  is  free,  while  the  luxury  of 
wickedness  is  expensive? 

The  layman  has  no  alternative  but  to  study  the  words 
of  Paul  in  correspondence  with  spirit  ("voice")  for  to 
ask  another  man  what  to  do  to  be  saved  would  bring 
forth  the  question  of  how  much  one  was  willing  to  pay 
for  the  information?  A  person  willing  to  pay  any  price 
for  indulgence  would  spurn  a  better  article  that  was  free. 
Study  the  babies  if  they  are  more  plenty  in  the  house 
than  Bibles,  which  could  be  consulted,  for  they  all  teach 
the  same  thing  at  a  reasonable  cost.  If  a  reform  pedler 
having  had  no  knowledge  of  parentage  offers  advice  to 
a  parent  in  regard  to  the  needs  of  the  children,  the  best 
answer  would  be  that  the  children  need  all  the  bread  that 
their  parents  were  able  to  earn. 

The  incongruity  of  words  in  whatever  form  they  are 
placed  will  not  correspond  with  spirit  or  natural  lan- 
guage, for  however  skillful  the  artist  is  in  painting  cor- 
respondence, his  work  will  not  respond  in  spirit.  The 
ambiguous  definitions  of  words  professors  of  philology 
have  settled  so  definitely  that    such    words    as  express 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  T.'J 

irony,  ridicule  and  sarcasm  are  only  to  be  employed  when 
talking  to  laymen  who  are  quickly  silenced  at  the  first 
exhibition  of  pedantry.  From  a  popular  text  book  by 
Gabriel  Campayre,  translated  by  W.  H.  Payne,  A.  M., 
page  loi,  the  following  sentence  may  be  found  in  rela- 
tion to  the  training  of  a  child,  but  more  fitting  to  a  horse. 
"After  having  allowed  himself  to  be  constrained,  he  will 
finally  consent  to  it;  he  will  give  his  attention  until  at 
last  he  will  of  his  own  accord  attach  himself  to  the  ob- 
jects of  study  toward  which  his  own  choice  draws  him." 
It  would  appear  therefore  that  a  child  or  a  layman  could 
be  subdued  and  barely  permitted  to  think,  until  one  was 
forced  not  to  think  out  loud.  As  words  go,  it  could  be 
readily  proved  to  a  professor  that  the  word  did  not  apply 
to  the  inspiration  bestowed  upon  mankind  by  the  Cre- 
ator for  communication  with  one's  fellows.  If  such 
communication  is  not  language,  certainly  words  are  not, 
but  in  esoteric  parlance  it  could  be  proved  as  definitely 
as  words,  after  they  are  defined  to  meet  the  end  in  view, 
that  literal  words  and  spiritual  conveyance  of  thoughts, 
or  imagery,  are  embraced  in  the  one  word  "language." 
This  would  appear  to  constrain  the  most  ambitious  per- 
son, however  much  one  might  desire  to  think  out  loud, 
and  dare  to  dispute  a  professor  of  philology. 

It  is  enough,  however,  to  know  that  language  is  spir- 
itual, or  books  would  never  have  been  written.  Spiritual 
language  is  scarcely  in  question  for  the  most  orthodox 
psychologist  to  dispute,  but  the  non-inspiration  of  words 
can  only  be  thought  about  by  the  individual  who  knows 
he  has  the  faculty  to  think  if  he  is  too  prudent  to  think 
out  loud.  Everyone  must  realize  from  his  own  experi- 
ence that  natural  language  runs  through  the  entire  hu- 
man race  in  contrary  distinction  to  the  mere  instinct  of 


28  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

animals.  Philology  admits  it,  and  it  is  troublesome 
words  that  have  been  tangled  up  with  spirit  that  keep 
the  mental  faculties  exercised  at  least.  Aristotle  intro- 
duced the  esoteric  system  which  made  him  famous.  His 
sophistry  and  neglect  of  moral  obligation  were  condoned 
for  his  inventing  a  system  by  which  "slaves,  tinkers  and 
cobblers"  could  be  kept  in  submission  to  the  power  of 
literal  knowledge,  for  he  never  committed  himself  to 
the  study  of  spiritual  things,  and  after  "proving"  that  he 
had  discovered  everything  that  knowledge  could  dis- 
cover, he  failed  to  notice  that  the  earth  was  an  active 
planet  and  turned  around. 


CHAPTER  III. 


WORDS. 


THAT  there  is  no  sense  to  words  could  be  disputed  by 
the  assertion  there  is  no  sense  to  the  statement.  The 
word  sense  relates  to  the  most  essential  feature  of  life 
and  the  consciousness  of  it.  The  relation  of  natural  lan- 
guage to  the  literal  is  essential  to  the  consideration  of 
the  economy  of  education,  for  if  words  fail  to  perform 
their  office  in  the  correspondence  of  thought  between  the 
individuals  they  are  reduced  to  inanimate  matter  and 
consequently  senseless.  Political  or  commercial  educa- 
tors could  not  be  asked  with  propriety  to  admit  they 
were  more  interested  in  the  profit  of  teaching  than  to  give 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  29 

any  attention  to  whether  they  were  teaching  the  truth 
or  not.  It  is  this  feature  that  makes  the  complex  char- 
acter of  words  important,  for  any  kind  of  incongruities 
can  be  estabhshed  by  the  ambiguity  of  words.  A  person 
may  feel  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  he  had  done  a 
wrong  to  another,  but  being  ably  represented  by  some 
professor  learned  in  words  and  eloquent  in  their  use,  he 
would  be  convinced  that  he  was  mistaken,  and  the  person 
whom  he  thought  he  had  wronged  was  really  to  blame 
for  not  knowing  better  than  to  submit  to  a  wrong. 

There  is  a  Oneness  to  the  attributes  of  God  as  be- 
stowed in  spirit  that  words  are  a  stranger  to,  for  a  word 
means  nothing  in  the  absense  of  sense  to  use  it,  thus 
words  are  not  sense,  but  the  instruments  of  sense,  and 
in  whatever  manner  they  are  used  to  defraud  the  purpose 
of  God  as  revealed  to  the  sense,  they  are  as  nefarious  as 
instruments  of  warfare;  both,  however,  could  be  proved 
by  words  to  be  civilizing.  It  has  been  much  discussed  by 
men  who  claim  for  each  other  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
discussing  anything,  that  the  ignorance  of  doing  wrong 
does  not  exempt  a  person  from  the  penalty  of  doing  the 
wrong.  This  could  be  discussed  in  words  to  the  end  of 
time,  but  it  would  appear  to  a  person  of  sense  that  he  was 
as  much  entitled  to  his  own  ignorance  as  what  he  could 
observe  in  another,  who  ofttimes  admits  it  accidentally. 
Thus  a  teacher  who  is  sincere  in  consequence  of  ignor- 
ance or  mistaken  convictions  should  be  pitied  rather  than 
censured,  for  it  is  the  teacher  that  knows  he  is  striving  to 
protect  the  profitable  character  of  education  that  is  doing 
the  wrong.  Such  a  teacher  will  betray  himself  by  trying 
to  maintain  the  pagan  understanding  of  words,  that  the 
ability  of  sylogizing  deifies  the  man,  giving  him  spiritual 
control  of  words,  in  proportion  to  his  oratorical  power  to 


30  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

win  the  public  attention.  Teaching  in  ancient  times  was 
extremely  profitable,  for  words  could  always  prove  by 
their  own  declaration  that  they  could  command  gods 
which  were  also  symbols,  and  to  the  illiterate  were  sup- 
posed to  be  in  correspondence.  It  is  not  a  question  to 
discuss  at  the  present  time,  whether  the  ancient  teach- 
ers believed  it  or  not,  but  it  was  profitable  and  they  trans- 
mitted that  fact  at  least  to  posterity,  and  a  close  study 
of  the  present  situation  will  show  the  advantage  of  teach- 
ing that  the  sign  language  transcends  the  spiritual  by 
mystifying  the  facts,  by  the  same  arguments  the  pagans 
used. 

The  speculation  in  words  rests  upon  the  disputant  to 
prove  their  transcendental  character.  The  weapons  of 
words  were  not  only  commercially  profitable,  but  ap- 
peared to  sustain  their  transcendental  pretensions,  by 
assisting  in  the  construction  of  weapons  of  warfare, 
which  also  appeared  to  justify  conquest  and  slavery.  No 
vision  warned  the  prophetic  teachers  of  old  that  greed 
led  to  destruction,  and  when  the  conquered  slaves  be- 
came educated  in  the  art  of  war  from  the  example  of 
their  task-masters,  they  became  proficient  in  defence. 
Wisdom  should  see  the  future  in  the  past,  and  observe 
that  the  greed  of  the  present  cannot  master  the  two- 
edged  sword  of  education  by  teaching  that  words  can 
command  their  source  by  the  mere  fiat  of  combination 
with  spirit  by  even  pretending  to  teach  sense  with  them. 
To  this  point,  however,  the  attention  of  a  parent 
may  be  called  at  least.  The  parent  is  the  first  personal 
teacher  of  the  child  who  undertakes  to  teach  words  and 
call  them  sense,  when  the  child  protests  by  correcting  the 
parent,  and  proving  that  God  had  taught  the  child  sense 
prior  to  the  effort  of  the  parent,  the  language  of  love 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  3I 

will  prevail  unless  the  parent  is  a  pedant  or  the  victim  of 
pedantic  instruction,  when  the  child  will  have  to  plunge 
into  the  mysteries  of  life  with  its  spiritual  correspondence 
alone.  The  pedantic  philologist  will  not  admit  a  defeat, 
but  easily  proves  by  the  dual  character  of  words  that  the 
pagans  discovered  that  the  word  sense  was  only  a  sym- 
bol and  combined  with  the  word  language  embraced 
spiritual  sense  to  the  end  that  knowledge  might 
be  taught  the  child.  The  system  proves  itself,  because 
words  were  made  to  fit  the  desired  end,  but  the  only 
trouble  with  the  system  is  it  isn't  true.  It  can  only  be  dis- 
covered by  the  child,  for  a  pedant  will  never  admit  he  is 
a  pedant,  except  he  has  courage  and  willingness  to  be 
"born  again."  The  child  persists  and  develops  ugliness 
and  anger,  for  sense  is  never  passive,  and  grows  more  ac- 
tive in  proportion  as  compulsion  replaces  the  touch  of 
love  sublime,  all  the  child  is  insisting  upon.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  honest  person  to  assist  the  child  in  proving 
to  the  world  that  the  word  sense  applied  to  truth.  But 
again,  words  are  not  truths,  even  if  philologists  can  make 
people  believe  that  language  depends  upon  association, 
when  it  would  be  more  comprehensive  to  teach  a  child 
that  it  depended  upon  sense  which  would  correspond  with 
the  child's  own  feelings,  when  it  fell  out  of  bed,  or  when 
it  attempted  to  walk  that  it  might  rise  in  knowledge  by 
its  own  effort,  protected  by  the  love  of  the  parent  rather 
than  the  pedantry  of  the  philologist  skilled  in  the  play 
with  words.  For  instance:  The  word  "truth"  applies  to 
the  contrary  of  the  word  "false" — "a  real  state  of  things" 
— a  fact — sense — reality,  etc. 

Now  the  word  false  relates  to  the  telling  or  writing  a 
lie  which  would  be  a  fact  to  the  extent  of  what  the  word 
related  to ;  that  is,  if  the  truth  is  a  fact  when  it  is  true  and 


32  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

a  lie  is  a  fact  when  it  is  a  lie,  the  word  fact  makes  the 
truth  a  lie  and  a  lie  the  truth.  The  importance  of  teach- 
ing a  child  that  a  word  is  sense  is  derived  from  ancient 
asceticism,  on  the  principle  that  a  child  must  be  broken  to 
obedience  before  letting  him  understand  he  was  in 
possession  of  sense,  the  very  genitive  of  words.  It  con- 
founds the  natural  intelligence  of  a  child  rather  than  cul- 
tivating it  until  words  as  senseless  as  a  club  are  beaten 
into  them  by  the  promise  from  greed  that  material  re- 
ward can  be  obtained  by  the  ability  to  play  with  words. 

The  Bible  teaches,  "The  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life."  It  would  appear  from  this  that  sense  is  the 
only  method  of  corresponding  with  spirit,  even  if  sym- 
bols can  be  made  by  man  to  throw  a  superficial  mantle 
over  the  naked  truth.  It  is  the  petition  of  the  child  to  be 
recognized  as  the  product  of  God  from  the  touch  of 
spirit  that  material  words  have  never  been  able  to  ana- 
lyze. This  was  the  struggle  of  the  pagans,  but  it  is  only 
from  the  confiding  simplicity  of  the  child  and  illiteracy 
of  the  adults  that  symbols  can  be  pointed  to  as  the  source 
of  knowledge.  The  word  knowledge  being  recognized 
as  truth,  whatever  was  labeled  knowledge  signified  it  was 
true,  and  this  synthesis  of  words  makes  them  convenient 
to  manipulate.  ''A  literal  truth"  for  instance,  is  taught 
to  be  the  reverse  of  a  figurative  truth,  while  both  are 
symbols  like  the  word  horse  and  its  picture.  That  neither 
possess  sense  is  the  point,  for  both  figure  and  letter  have 
exactly  the  same  relation  to  sense,  and  to  deify  the  word 
the  figure  is  equally  involved.  The  pagans  were  more 
consistent  than  the  pedant  Christians,  for  the  pagans  dei- 
fied all  kinds  of  symbols  relating  to  piety  and  a  con- 
trolling spirit. 

It  is  inconsistent  to  take  advantage  of  the  plastic  mind 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  33 

of  children,  and  teach  them  that  mythology  was  false, 
since  words  were  substituted  for  myths,  seeking  to  make 
philology  true  by  the  same  method  mythologists  operated 
while  the  fact  is  as  mysterious  as  ever,  and  wisely  so,  for 
there  is  only  One  interpreter.  There  being  no  more  sense 
to  philology  than  to  mythology  the  plastic  mind  of  the 
child  can  be  broken  with  words  that  will  prevent  the 
child  from  thinking,  just  the  same  as  its  legs  could  be 
broken  to  prevent  it  from  walking. 

Words,  clubs,  and  all  instruments  of  structure  are  in- 
animate and  void  of  sense.  They  are  all  equally  as  de- 
structive as  constructive.  To  say  they  had  no  use  would 
be  as  great  a  myth  as  they  are  often  used  for.  The  club 
is  senseless,  but  its  economic  use  could,  like  words,  bestir 
animation  of  sense  in  an  apparently  senseless  body,  but 
like  words  in  an  extravagant  application,  both  could  drive 
sense  out  of  the  body.  The  only  real  protection  there- 
fore, is  the  divine  law  of  love,  the  language  of  spirit,  the 
touch  sublime  that  no  words,  figures,  or  clubs  can  reach. 

The  professor  learned  in  literal  knowledge  will  discuss 
difference  of  opinion  with  a  peer,  but  in  conversation 
with  a  layman  the  opinion  of  a  professor  must  be  ac- 
cepted without  question  or  the  layman  would  be  subject 
to  reproof.  He  will  wonder  in  silence,  however,  when 
one  professor  tells  him  a  thing  is  so,  and  another  equally 
as  learned,  will  tell  him  not  to  believe  it,  for  it  isn't  so. 
The  opinions  of  both  are  expected  to  be  received  respect- 
fully, but  it  is  a  very  dull  layman,  or  one  well  broken  to 
rules  and  habits,  that  does  not  perceive  that  after  being 
thoroughly  educated  he  must  still  decide  by  his  own  nat- 
ural intelligence  the  true  from  the  false.  It  naturally 
points  to  an  exclusive  layman  language  by  which  they 
can  compare  their  thoughts  intelligently,    and  leave  the 


34  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

esoteric  style  to  the  exclusive  use  of  the  modern  task- 
master. That  language  is  both  natural  and  simple,  the 
aborigines  and  also  the  child  give  ample  evidence,  and 
when  the  parent  realizes  that  his  child  is  being  taught 
anything  that  is  profitable,  the  same  as  a  merchant  sells 
worthless  goods,  it  will  be  the  parent's  own  fault  if  he 
continues  to  submit  to  it. 

The  words  sense,  knowledge,  experience,  conscious- 
ness, cognition,  language,  perception,  conception,  intui- 
tion, etc.,  are  simply  terms  for  unteachable  conditions 
bestowed  upon  man  at  birth.  It  is  usurpation  for  any 
person  or  group  of  persons  to  take  money  for  pretending 
to  teach  what  God  bestows  free  upon  the  entire  human 
race.  The  introduction  of  complexity  in  the  use  of  words 
betrays  a  hidden  motive  that  is  anything  but  philan- 
thropic. It  would  be  too  voluminous  to  point  out  the  in- 
congruity of  words,  and  show  reasons  for  their  complex- 
ity. Reasons  in  favor  of  the  confusion  of  words  with 
delicate  shades  of  meaning  could  be  defended  by  the  very 
shades  that  obscure  them.  It  was  a  political  necessity 
that  suggested  this  vast  array  of  words  to  give  different 
shades  of  meaning  to  them.  Governments  and  institu- 
tions of  every  character  have  made  words  to  fit  some  spe- 
cific end,  and  while  it  does  not  change  the  spiritual  or 
material  object  bearing  such  a  multitude  of  names,  it 
makes  education  extremely  laborious  and  cultivates  the 
memory  at  the  expense  of  the  judgment,  until  a  man  can 
become  a  walking  lexicon  without  judgment  enough  to 
file  a  saw  or  keep  from  freezing  to  death  without  assist- 
ance from  a  man  he  might  scorn  in  the  absence  of  a  lit- 
eral introduction.  This  awful  extravagance  in  educa- 
tion may  continue  until  the  law  of  natural  adjustment 
occurs,  for  when  a  nation  gets  top  heavy  with  extrava- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  35 

gant  ideas  it  will  be  compelled  by  natural  adjustment  to 
return  to  original  conceptions,  whether  the  people  are 
willing  or  not.  Words  are  signs,  if  not  sense,  and  also 
signs  of  danger  as  well  as  signs  of  safety,  but  they  de- 
pend upon  the  attention  and  willingness  to  study  and 
comprehend  them,  "for  fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear 
to  tread,"  they  often  escape  in  safety  while  the  lexicon 
man  waits  for  an  introduction,  and,  having  no  judgment, 
he  is  practically  lost. 

The  teaching  of  terminology  and  nomenclature  is  an 
effort  to  protect  social  distinction  at  the  expense  of  the 
illiterate.  It  is  just  as  much  a  breach  of  contract  for  an 
educator  to  fail  to  deliver  the  goods  he  promises,  as  for 
a  merchant  to  take  pay  for  goods  that  he  knows  he  can- 
not deliver.  The  fact  that  technical  products  are  becom- 
ing a  burden  to  the  market  of  demand,  the  hard-earned 
money  of  parents  is  being  greedily  taken  for  promising 
expectations  that  yield  ninetj>^-nine  per  cent,  disappoint- 
ment to  one  that  would  just  as  probably  have  occurred 
from  the  natural  order  of  things.  Any  economy  in  phy- 
sical labor  is  so  carefully  studied  that  the  extravagant 
programme  of  educators  paints  an  ideal  existence  of  lux- 
ury to  such  as  can  play  with  words  and  command  service 
from  the  illiterate  defenceless,  who  are  becoming  so 
scarce  that  a  technical  man  is  frequently  seeking  service 
from  the  non-technical.  It  is  a  mere  question  of  economy 
that  natural  education  will  force  the  literal  to  submit  to 
in  proportion  to  the  supremacy  of  spiritual  authority 
over  the  material.  It  will  stop  just  as  soon  as  the  victims 
realize  they  are  being  victimized,  same  as  a  fire  disap- 
pears when  there  is  nothing  more  to  consume. 


36  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


NATURAL    EDUCATION. 


ANYTHING  inspired  by  spirit  is  natural,  and  whatever 
is  comprehended  is  education.  It  is  a  universal  com- 
munion of  spirit  with  a  common  source,  which  is  God.  To 
be  natural  is  to  know  by  experience  or  intuition,  and  an 
individual  experience  is  a  universal  communion  of  spirit' 
or  the  term  reason  is  not  worth  talking  about.  Spiritual 
communion  is  the  one  form  of  language  and  education 
that  words  and  signs  at  their  best  only  convey  the  imi- 
tations. The  efforts  of  individual  man  to  proclaim  him- 
self the  equal  of  God  as  an  educator  or  to  be  recognized 
as  such,  have  caused  more  war  and  premature  death  than 
all  the  natural  deaths  that  ever  occurred;  and  it  is  still 
an  open  question  if  it  will  ever  be  successful,  while  rea- 
son and  sense  continue  to  be  naturally  bestowed  upon 
the  human  family  at  the  mere  cost  of  willingness  to  ac- 
cept it. 

The  unity  of  truth,  sense,  spirit,  experience,  and  natu- 
ral education  is  a  concrete  combination  that  in  compari- 
son, abstract  plurals  are  a  mere  fog.  The  reason  opposi- 
tion to  the  simple  truth  continues  is  the  same  reason 
why  tyrants  and  "task-masters"  will  continue  as  long  as 
they  can  find  timid  dupes  to  support  them.  The  need 
of  temptation  to  incite  the  natural  protoplast  of  every- 
thing is  the  same  as  the  necessary  heat  to  hatch  a  chick- 
en.   Greed  is  simply  another  name  for  a  figurative  devil. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  3/ 

It  is  material  prosperity  that  is  held  out  as  the  reward 
of  a  literal  education  which  is  called  knowledge,  but  it  is 
the  mere  picture  of  natural  knowledge,  which  can  only 
be  comprehended  by  the  spirit  that  the  devil  has  never 
been  able  to  conquer.  He  advertises  the  most  dazzling 
prospects  that  a  child  can  be  deceived  by,  after  learning 
the  danger  of  continuing  to  fall.  The  child's  confidence 
in  natural  education  cannot  be  betrayed  in  whatever  its 
primitive  intelligence  comprehends.  The  effort  to  mis- 
lead a  child  by  literal  instruction  in  advance  of  its  natu- 
ral experience  will  produce  the  very  contrarity  that  one 
often  seeks  to  avoid. 

The  child  is  a  bundle  of  concrete  truth  (not  truths) 
and  God  is  responsible  for  its  purity.  It  is  blasphemy  to 
impugn  any  impurity  to  the  spiritual  character  of  the 
child.  If  it  inherit  any  germs  of  evil  they  are  derived 
from  the  material  body  of  the  parents  that  neither  God 
nor  the  child,  a  spiritual  unity,  is  responsible  for.  (This 
writing  is  not  even  a  tentative  negation  of  theology,  or 
established  institutions,  but  it  is  the  privilege  of  genius 
to  demonstrate  the  truth  by  whatever  method  or  terms 
that  experience  dictates.) 

The  privilege  of  a  pedant  to  dissimulate  and  exhibit 
a  knowledge  of  pagan  logic  by  which  a  fact  can  be  lit- 
erally proved  to  be  a  myth,  will  not  disturb  the  unity  of 
God,  spirit,  Nature,  and  the  truth.  When  a  word  can  be 
found  to  express  sense,  it  will  be  after  the  devil  and  the 
political  dissembler  overcome  the  power  of     God. 

If  a  person  is  so  trained  himself  that  he  is  positively 
unable  to  comprehend  plain,  simple  facts,  it  would  be 
more  than  useless  to  discuss  with  him  the  relation  of 
teacher  to  the  taught.  A  teacher  by  virtue  of  his  office 
assumes  that  he  is  able  to  improve    the  child,    and  the 


38  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

child  must  submit  at  first  by  pretence  also,  that  his  natu- 
ral education  is  at  fault,  when  literal  education  can  ac- 
complish for  the  child  the  same  orthodox  prejudice  that 
the  symbol  of  truth  is  the  superlative  of  truth  itself. 
Such  a  teacher  could  scarcely  take  kindly,  as  friend  to 
friend,  in  a  Christian  spirit,  to  the  affirmative  that  natural 
education  is  the  superlative  of  every  method  of  education. 
It  could  be  pronounced  absurd  and  a  child  whipped  or 
scolded  until  its  will  was  made  to  yield  a  complete  sub- 
serviency to  the  teacher.  Besides,  two  teachers  will  dis- 
agree radically  and  both  agree  that  experience,  practi- 
cally natural  education,  was  more  dangerous  than  what 
they  were  disputing  about.  The  average  child  possesses 
abstract  reasoning  ability  sufficient  to  trust  its  own  natu- 
ral conceptions  before  it  will  trust  either  of  the  teachers 
who  are  not  able  to  teach  each  other.  A  hypothesis  ar- 
rayed against  an  experience,  providing  the  experience 
was  admitted  to  be  an  actual  sense  conception,  would  be 
an  absurdity;  yet  it  is  analogous  to  a  doubt  that  natural 
education  was  the  only  real  education  there  was.  The 
unity  of  God,  Spirit  and  Nature  once  established  in  the 
individual  mind,  only  one  teacher,  the  Teacher  of  all 
things,  would  be  recognized. 

In  the  complexity  of  words  education,  training,  instruc- 
tion and  culture,  could  be  embraced  in  the  human  insti- 
tutions of  learning  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  any  term 
representing  spiritual  education.  If  esoteric  literature 
has  long  since  settled  their  simple  observations,  there  is 
certainly  a  demand  in  consequence  of  the  present  social 
debauchery  for  an  exoteric  literature  that  will  permit  of 
the  common  people  corresponding  with  each  other  intel- 
ligently. To  contend  against  any  economy  of  education 
would  be  a  revelation  to  the  credulous,  who  have  not 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  39 

only  been  trained  religiously  to  believe  that  education 
could  only  be  transmitted  by  a  mediator,  but  also  to 
maintain  the  scheme,  a  principle  of  reproach  must  neces- 
sarily be  cast  upon  the  most  perfect  work  of  God — an  in- 
nocent child.  If  anything  in  pagan  literature  can  be 
found  more  atheistic  than  what  the  present  esoteric  text 
books  contain,  which  are  taught  in  public  schools,  they^ 
have  yet  to  appear  and  prove  that  natural  education  as 
taught  direct  from  the  Creator  of  all  things,  is  a  com- 
plete failure. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  a  person  who  is  willing  to  earn 
his  own  living  to  study  biology,  anthropology,  psychology 
and  the  other  ologies  too  numerous  to  mention,  but  study 
a  babe  and  notice  if  education  by  proxy  ever  produced 
such  a  bundle  of  truth,  which  public  school  text  books 
teach  to  be  a  "bundle  of  selfishness,"  which  is  also  true ; 
but  with  the  exception  by  inference  and  precepts  that 
human  educators  are  willing  to  sacrifice  themselves  in 
teaching  the  child  to  become  unselfish  enough  to  protect 
the  present  conditions  of  society. 

The  most  selfish  person  is  one  who  tries  to  teach  the 
virtue  of  unselfishness  for  fear  the  luxuries  of  life  will 
be  exhausted,  and  he  will  be  obliged  to  practice  what  he 
preaches.  An  educator  may  be  sincere  in  purpose,  but 
the  child  even  who  can  read  cannot  be  continually  de- 
ceived when  the  purpose  is  a  continuity  of  disappoint- 
ment in  reviewing  the  pictures  of  prosperity  which  are 
just  as  figurative  as  literal  education  is  to  the  real  and 
natural.  Besides,  superficial  happiness  is  just  as  much  a 
myth  as  the  pictures  of  facts,  and  shows  the  same  rela- 
tion as  literal  education  to  the  natural. 

A  child's  weakness  in  sense  development  is  not  able 
to  comprehend  abstract    reasonings    in  the    speculative 


40  THE   ECONOMY    OF   EDUCATION. 

effort  to  employ  words  to  transcend  their  source.  It  can 
therefore  be  misled  when  its  confiding  and  natural  dis- 
position to  imitate  every  observation  it  is  able  to  make, 
is  taken  advantage  of  to  justify  some  theory  of  its  pre- 
decessors. It  would  not  be  materially  satisfactory  to  re- 
verse the  convictions  of  predecessors  upon  their  rela- 
tions to  the  new  arrival,  but  to  an  unprejudiced  mind  it 
might  be  worth  considering  at  least.  It  would  there- 
fore be  a  radical  departure  from  convictions  that  are  de- 
clared settled  before  the  new  arrival.  Thus  the  child, 
having  no  voice  previous  to  its  birth,  would  be  no  party 
to  its  own  destiny,  which  was  apparently  settled  before 
it  was  born.  That  is,  he  must  accept  whatever  method 
of  education  his  predecessors  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
his  birth  had  "settled"  without  consulting  his  wishes  at 
all.  It  could  scarcely  be  questioned  but  that  a  person's 
wickedness  was  attained  after  he  was  born,  and  from  the 
records  of  history  there  is  plenty  of  evidence  that  our 
predecessors  were  not  wholly  free  from  guile.  Now  if 
the  child  was  born  with  the  ability  to  generalize  and  rea- 
son abstractly,  he  could  scarcely  come  to  any  other  con- 
clusion than  it  was  a  misfortune  he  was  born. 

With  this  in  view,  and  also  realizing  that  natural 
knowledge  was  at  least  prior  to  any  literally  acquired,  the 
conclusion  again  would  show  that  evil  and  wickedness 
were  more  the  result  of  literal  education  than  the  natural. 
Another  conclusion  still  more  important  as  reflecting 
upon  the  child's  dependence  upon  its  parents  and  teach- 
ers from  their  greater  accumulation  of  intellectual  ail- 
ments, shows  the  child  in  its  true  light  in  possession  of 
spiritual  sense  with  its  feeble  natural  acquirements  as 
more  directly  the  representative  of  God  than  either  its 
parents  or  would-be    teachers.      If  all    the    old,    musty 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  4I 

theorems  of  the  past  were  consigned  to  the  junk  heap, 
it  might  gradually  dawn  upon  the  conservative  disposi- 
tion of  abstract  society  that  the  child  was  more  the 
teacher  than  the  taught.  If  God  rules  the  universe, 
which  is  scarcely  denied  by  anyone,  it  could  not  be 
proved  to  the  contrary  but  that  the  child  is  the  real  medi- 
ator in  the  field  of  reform  and  redemption.  It  could 
scarcely  be  possible  that  an  orthodox  of  crystalized  con- 
victions would  admit  that  the  child  was  the  real  spiritual 
teacher.  It  would  be  equally  as  impossible,  if  such  is 
not  the  fact,  to  logically  explain  how  the  world  could 
have  possibly  attained  its  present  growth  if  the  wicked- 
ness of  society  could  actually  control  the  cardinal  prin- 
ciple of  education.  The  teacher  of  any  character  would 
expose  his  insincerity  to  contend  against  the  economy  of 
education.  This  being  admitted,  it  would  form  the 
groundwork  of  studying  the  actual  relation  between  the 
spiritual  and  the  literal  and  observe  with  what  care  the 
syllogism  of  pagan  logic  had  been  woven  into  Christian 
precepts.  For  instance :  experience,  observation  and  con- 
clusion would  present  a  syllogism  of  some  universal  ben- 
efit, while  to  assume  a  premise  to  be  a  fact  founded  upon 
material  of  literal  agreement  among  the  scholastic 
learned  would  be  a  biased  performance,  and  the  conclu- 
sion of  such  a  sylogism  would  be  as  false  as  the  premise. 
This  would  answer  for  discussion  between  learned  pro- 
fessors whose  avowed  object  was  the  seeking  of  truth, 
but  really  a  disguise  to  hide  material  interests.  A  child, 
however,  guided  by  its  spiritual  inspiration  of  sense, 
would  not  be  deceived  by  a  literal  premise  to  reach  a  con- 
clusive truth,  for  the  child  would  not  be  convinced  that 
the  word  candy  was  as  sweet  as  the  taste  of  it.  The 
efifort  to  dominate  the  illiterate  by  the  acquirement  of 


42  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

words  and  a  system  of  learning  called  knowledge  in  imi- 
tation of  the  natural,  is  a  prerogative  from  the  heathen 
and  practiced  to  the  present  day  by  reason  of  material 
benefit.  The  ability  of  the  learned  to  establish  rules  of 
education  in  the  name  of  Christianity  makes  it  a  strong- 
hold that  appears  impregnable,  and  no  doubt  the  pedant 
really  believes  in  transcendentalism,  for  however  much 
the  literary  learned  dispute  over  methods  of  education, 
none  are  willing  in  any  considerable  number  to  admit 
that  natural  intelligence  always  precedes  the  literal  or 
artificially  acquired.  The  victims  must  have  courage 
enough  to  emancipate  themselves  before  the  principle  of 
natural  education  will  be  acknowledged,  for  the  path  of 
courage  is  necessarily  thorny,  but  it  leads  to  the  straight 
road  of  faith  as  sure  as  gravitation.  Material  prosperity 
is  held  by  the  average  literal  educator  to  be  the  reward  of 
goodness  and  poverty  the  punishment  of  evil,  but  facts 
would  have  to  be  proved  false  before  such  a  conclusion 
could  be  reached,  for  natural  education  is  from  the  bot- 
tom upward,  while  literal  education  is  from  the  top 
downward.  Besides,  at  no  period  of  the  world's  history 
did  the  dominant  society  ever  "lift  up"  anyone  without 
charging  more  than  it  was  worth,  while  to  get  up  free  of 
expense  the  way  is  always  clear  to  anyone  who  is  willing 
to  trust  God  and  his  natural  education  rather  than  get 
caught  in  the  net  of  art. 

Again,  natural  education  is  sense  experience  and  the 
alternative  of  choice  between  good  and  evil  is  embraced 
in  the  free  will,  which  the  child  learns  from  its  first  fall, 
or  whatever  obstruction  it  runs  against.  The  child  in  its 
weakness  can  be  taught  anything,  but  nothing  more  mis- 
leading than  that  the  child  is  the  ward  of  society  and  de- 
pendent upon  its  predecessors,  when  the  fact  is  the  two 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  43 

ends  of  a  logical  proposition  were  shifted  for  a  political 
purpose,  for  in  reality  society  is  as  dependent  upon  the 
child  as  the  human  race  is  upon  its  Creator.  Such  a  situ- 
ation could  be  called  pantheism ;  it  certainly  is  not  trans- 
cendentalism that  depends  upon  the  artifice  of  words  for 
its  sandy  foundation. 

The  weakness  of  a  child  for  sweets  and  whatever 
tempts  the  desires  is  often  shown  by  educators  as  proof 
of  its  dependence  upon  parents  to  teach  it  mere  symbols 
of  facts  from  the  attraction  of  letters  and  pictures.  It  cer- 
tainly proves  the  weakness  of  the  child  for  attractive 
symbols,  but  the  child  is  as  much  stronger  than  the  pa- 
rent or  teacher  in  what  pertains  to  the  truth,  as  the  dif- 
ference between  the  spiritual  and  material  conditions. 
After  the  confidence  of  the  child  is  betrayed  it  becomes 
a  passive  victim  to  the  will  of  others,  or  an  uncertain 
proposition  that  depends  upon  his  courage  to  maintain 
his  spiritual  endowment  that  he  obtained  at  birth.  What- 
ever may  be  said  or  written  against  concrete  education 
in  favor  of  the  abstract,  it  should  always  be  noticed  that 
no  literal  system  was  ever  able  to  teach  a  child  the 
knowledge  of  its  own  birth. 


44  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LITERAL    EDUCATION. 

n^HE  relation  of  the  literal  to  the  natural  is  the  relation 
-■-  of  the  material  to  the  spiritual.  The  object  of  educa- 
tion is  to  impart  knowledge,  and  knowledge  being  experi- 
ence, whatever  false  teaching  denies  the  truth  of  knowl- 
edge, proves  its  own  falseness  by  claiming  its  specific 
method  is  a  necessary  education  to  advance  the  civiliza- 
tion of  humanity.  If  false  premises  must  be  maintained 
by  the  fiat  of  human  judgment,  the  conclusions  must 
necesssarily  be  as  false  as  the  premise  when,  by  the  rules 
of  logic,  knowledge  also  would  be  false.  If  the  trouble  is 
in  the  premie  why  not  start  from  spiritual  sense,  the  only 
real  education  that  was  ever  revealed  to  humanity  ?  From 
sense  o  experience  the  conclusion  would,  in  proportion  to 
the  willingness  to  admit  the  premise,  be  as  true  as  the 
premise. 

Personality  is  the  most  sacred  institution  that  God 
ever  permitted  to  dwell  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  be- 
sides the  man  is  not  compelled  to  remain  any  longer  than 
he  is  willing  to.  The  first  education  the  child  receives 
is  strictly  spiritual,  even  before  it  becomes  acquainted 
with  its  mother,  and  in  some  cases  it  never  knows  any 
parents  other  than  the  touch  of  spirit  that  gives  it  life 
and  understanding.  The  exclusive  spiritual  education  of 
the  child  transcends  in  importance  any  material  educa- 
tion that  it  can  possibly    receive,  and    its    introduction 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  45 

to  literal  possibilities  is  derived  from  its  first  fall.  What 
is  important  for  anyone  to  consider  who  has  been  edu- 
cated to  believe  that  his  conception  of  thoughts  and 
ability  to  think  were  taught  to  him  by  his  parents,  that 
in  the  absence  of  spiritual  education  no  ground-work  of 
comparison  would  exist  for  literal  eiforts  to  build  upon. 
The  effort  to  avoid  any  explanation  of  difference  between 
the  spiritual  and  literal  education,  betrays  a  deliberate 
purpose  to  maintain  pagan  prerogatives  and  from  the 
ability  to  build  ideal  foundations  of  a  temporal  charac- 
ter, seek  to  prove  that  knowledge  was  only  possible  by 
literal  education  and  whatever  temple  dominant  man 
chose  to  build,  it  would  supersede  the  spiritual  temple 
not  made  with  hands. 

The  effort  to  educate  a  child  to  confound  its  spiritual 
education,  that  established  the  principle  of  good  and  evil 
before  letters  or  pictures  were  known  to  exist,  is  equiva- 
lent to  breaking  a  child's  legs  to  prevent  it  from  walk- 
ing. The  supposition  that  the  child  or  humanity  would 
never  find  it  out  except  through  the  mediation  of  literal 
education  is  the  greatest  mistake  that  literary  wisdom  or 
human  teachers  ever  made.  The  very  effort  to  disprove 
spiritual  education  as  distinct  from  literal  conveyance 
suggests  a  suspicion  that  educators  for  commercial 
profit  know  more  than  they  are  willing  to  admit. 

All  literal  educators  have  to  offer  in  competition  with 
the  spiritual,  which  never  entirely  leaves  a  person  while 
he  is  alive,  is  material  reward,  for  the  communion  of 
spirit  is  so  completely  separate  from  literal  communica- 
tion that  no  exchange  of  traffic  was  ever  established.  The 
real  exchange  that  makes  for  the  activity  of  life  is  be- 
tween the  child  and  parent.  The  child  reflects  the  spir- 
itual education  and  the  parent  and  teacher  the  literal  or 


46  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  material.  The  former  is  the  truth  that  can  always  be 
depended  upon,  while  the  latter  is  uncertain  until  proved 
by  experience  which  is  really  a  return  to  the  spiritual 
foundation.  The  persistent  effort  of  the  child  to  cling 
to  its  first  conceptions  of  the  truth  is  so  remarkable  as 
to  scarcely  escape  the  notice  of  the  parent,  who  will  be 
reproved  by  the  child  at  the  least  attempt  to  practice  an 
untruth  in  its  presence. 

Every  person  is  taught  that  the  truth  is  the  essential 
end  of  all  educational  effort,  but  to  convince  a  child  that 
a  literal  truth  is  the  equivalent  of  a  spiritual  truth,  the 
assistance  of  the  devil,  taught  to  children  as  an  evil  spirit, 
is  accepted ;  a  sacrilege,  however,  to  apply  the  word  spirit 
to  the  true  and  false  both.  It  helps  to  confound  the  com- 
prehension of  children  and  forms  the  basis  of  misleading 
them  with  material  attractions. 

Experience  is  a  constant  reminder  of  spiritual  influ- 
ence, but  if  a  child  or  adult  accepts  the  literal  as  an  in- 
terpretation of  the  spiritual,  the  straight  road  to  destruc- 
tion will  be  clear  of  obstacles.  To  follow  the  experi- 
ence of  our  predecessors  in  accord  with  literal  precepts, 
which  educators  are  constantly  parading  for  commercial 
profits  and  material  reward,  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  sim- 
plicity of  spiritual  influence  that  never  costs  anything 
but  willingness. 

A  critic  or  educator  will  always  expose  his  motive  to 
a  careful  observer,  and  the  more  he  tries  to  disguise  it 
the  more  plainly  it  will  be  revealed.  This  is  precisely  the 
situation  when  a  professor  of  psychology  attempts  to 
prove  that  the  child  is  dependent  upon  its  knowledge  of 
God  from  either  its  parents  or  teacher,  and  also  that  a 
debt  of  duty  is  owed  to  dominant  society  for  its  being 
taught  how  to  enjoy  the  bounties  of  the  earth  in  peace 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  47 

and  happiness.  The  trouble  with  these  two  propositions 
is,  neither  of  them  is  true,  for  a  person's  own  experi- 
ence reveals  that  he  obtained  this  knowledge  before  he 
knew  one  word  of  speech.  Besides  the  effort  to  endow 
the  soul  and  mind  with  organic  substances  reveals  a  lit- 
eral principle  derived  from  mythology  in  justification  of 
the  dominant  authority  of  the  strongest  man  to  rule  the 
weak.  If  a  person  choose  to  believe  what  he  is  taught 
literally  against  what  he  is  taught  spiritually,  his  privi- 
lege of  will  permits  him  to  surrender  to  the  stronger 
will  of  another. 

If  a  man  have  interest  enough  in  himself  to  study  bio- 
logy— the  science  of  life — and  courage  enough  to  be 
guided  by  what  he  learns,  he  will  grow  in  spite  of  all  the 
opposition  that  literal  efforts  can  hurl  against  him.  Such 
is  spiritual  education  direct  from  God,  and  the  fact  that 
psychologists  know  it,  is  the  reason  they  won't  admit  it. 
The  laborious  effort  to  avoid  noticing  natural  growth,  or 
education,  except  with  irony  and  often  in  open  derision, 
while  giving  the  greatest  prominence  to  literal  educa- 
tion, certainly  reflects  a  motive  other  than  philanthropic. 
The  pedagogue  who  loved  humanity  with  the  same  ardor 
as  he  loved  himself,  would  certainly  admit  some  virtue  in 
the  silent  teaching  of  God,  rather  than  so  promptly  ex- 
plain how  all  that  was  good  in  life  was  due  to  literal  edu- 
cation, and  all  that  was  evil  was  due  to  the  natural  and 
direct  communion  with  spirit  without  recognizing  the 
proxy  of  the  pedagogue  who  always  demanded  money  or 
service  for  his  avowed  purpose  in  seeking  to  lift  the 
weaklings  of  humanity  up,  not  to  his  own  height,  but 
near  enough  to  be  more  serviceable  to  himself. 

Education  is  such  a  broad  principle  that  it  even  in- 
cludes wickedness,  and  when  the  child  arrives  at  adult 


48  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

understanding,  and  discovers  that  his  inspiration  was 
only  indirectly  derived  from  his  parents  and  teachers,  he 
is  thrown  out  to  shift  for  himself,  when  his  "friends"  a 
little  higher  up  draw  the  curtains  and  expose  the  de- 
bauchery of  abstract  society  and  explain  that  it  is  the 
material  reward  that  the  naturally  educated  are  not  per- 
mitted to  enjoy.  Is  it  strange  that  the  temptation  is  too 
powerful  to  be  always  resisted,  when  there  are  so  many 
examples  to  influence  the  will?  If  personality  is  the  tem- 
ple of  God,  the  devil  has  a  seductive  way  of  getting 
possession. 

It  is  absurd  for  any  person  to  attempt  to  teach  another 
that  he  is  mistaken  in  his  own  experience,  yet  it  is  often 
attempted.  A  parent  can  silence  a  child  and  lose  its  con- 
fidence, but  it  cannot  convince  it  by  simply  commanding 
it  to  forget  its  own  experience.  Spiritual  education  is 
strictly  silent,  and  the  noise  of  literal  education  can  shut 
the  mouth  of  experience,  but  it  will  crop  out  again  as 
sure  as  a  smoldering  fire  will  find  the  surface.  A  person 
who  refuses  to  be  guided  by  his  own  experience,  which 
is  the  only  knowledge  that  literal  education  does  not 
teach,  cannot  be  convinced  of  what  he  knows;  what 
might  be  possible  for  literal  education  to  accomplish 
would  be  to  persuade  a  person  to  admit  either  in  word 
or  action  what  he  did  know,  instead  of  teaching  a  method 
of  hiding  it  for  material  benefit. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  that  literally  records 
spiritual  inspiration  that  justifies  any  person  by  his  own 
fiat  in  claiming  a  specific  inspiration  that  every  human  be- 
ing by  virtue  of  his  own  experience  would  be  equally 
justified  in  claiming.  The  idea  was  derived  from  the  pa- 
gans and  exposed  by  Socrates  four  hundred  years  be- 
fore Christ  was  crucified.     Dominant  rulers  never  seek 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  49 

the  truth,  but  how  to  keep  it  hidden  is  what  their  term 
of  ruling  depends  upon.  Socrates  was  poisoned  for 
teaching  the  common  inspiration  of  humanity.  Christ 
taught  and  exemplified  the  same  principle,  and  it  was 
apparently  honestly  recorded  by  the  scribes  of  Scripture 
who  claimed  no  special  inspiration  for  themselves,  but 
it  was  accorded  to  them  by  the  Roman  Empire  for  politi- 
cal reasons  after  the  scribes  were  dead.  Thus  pagan  pre- 
rogatives have  no  more  place  in  the  Scriptures  than  a 
thief  would  have  in  heaven. 

That  "the  wish  is  father  to  the  thought"  illustrates  the 
effort  of  pedagogues  to  continue  to  insist  that  literal  edu- 
cation is  correcting  the  evils  of  Nature  by  first  proclaim- 
ing that  the  Creator  deals  out  Nature  in  the  rough  The 
mistake  will  never  be  admitted  by  any  who  are  seeking 
material  profit  by  cultivating  the  mistake.  The  depend- 
ence upon  followers  is  the  only  principle  by  which  ab- 
stract society  can  exist ;  the  truth  being  a  secondary  con- 
sideration to  material  attraction,  and  no  method  was  ever 
more  successful  in  the  science  of  teaching  than  to  teach 
a  system  or  doctrine  by  which  the  obligations  to  Nature 
could  be  evaded. 

Every  mistake  is  a  figurative  "fall,"  by  which  the 
"Apple  of  Knowledge"  is  reached  in  the  effort  to  rise 
again.  To  obtain  knowledge  on  the  do-nothing  principle 
is  to  meet  consequences  that  were  omitted  in  the  con- 
tract. It  is  the  abuse  of  literal  tools  in  like  manner  to 
the  abuse  of  a  hammer  which  can  construct  and  also  de- 
stroy; besides  literal  tools  are  no  more  knowledge  than 
hammers  and  saws  are  houses.  When  the  pedagogue 
and  politician  are  found  to  be  a  myth,  the  real  usefulness 
of  literal  education  will  become  more  obvious,  and  what 
is  difficult  to  learn  now  will  become  vastly  more  simple. 


50  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

If  a  person  would  lay  aside  his  ambition  for  material 
acquirements  and  cultivated  bias,  against  natural  educa- 
tion, his  natural  intelligence  could,  providing  he  was 
willing,  reveal  the  fact  that  God — Spirit — is  the  only 
dispenser  of  knowledge.  The  pretence  of  man  in  thrust- 
ing himself  upon  the  credulous  as  a  necessary  proxy 
is  more  to  prevent  such  from  finding  out  the  very  thing 
they  pretend  to  teach.  There  would  be  no  objection  to 
a  proxy  providing  he  did  not  seek  to  compel  his  client  to 
accept  the  service.  If  a  man  is  wilfully  determined  to 
stay  down,  no  proxy  could  lift  him  spiritually,  and  for 
that  reason  he  could  never  discover  what  true  knowledge 
was. 

If  it  would  be  admitted  that  natural  knowledge  was 
all  there  was,  the  abstracts,  and  sub-abstracts  could 
stand  upon  their  own  merits  and  literal  education  could 
be  taught  in  an  economical  manner,  when  its  simplicity 
would  become  more  apparent.  For  example :  if  a  person 
was  approaching  toward  a  fire  and  the  situation  kept 
getting  hotter,  he  could  feel  pretty  sure  he  was  going 
in  the  right  direction  to  be  destroyed.  Also  if  a  person 
was  really  willing  to  search  for  the  truth,  and  the  signs, 
literal  or  otherwise,  continued  to  grow  more  favorable, 
he  could  continue  progressing  with  confidence.  It  would 
all  depend,  however,  whether  a  man  had  courage 
enough  to  move  on  without  a  proxy,  for  such  a  person- 
age would  jump  at  any  new  proposition  that  promised  a 
greater  material  reward,  if  that  was  the  motive,  rather 
than  a  spiritual  reward. 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  5 1 


CHAPTER  VI. 


PEDAGOGY. 


*'"pALSE  prophets"  and  "false  teachers"  are  severely 
-■■  reproved  in  Scripture,  which  proves  at  least  that 
such  persons  have  been,  and  are  recognized.  The  great 
point  is,  can  it  be  possible  for  a  person  to  become  so 
learned  as  to  sincerely  believe  that  he  can  dissemble  in 
the  presence  of  mere  natural  ability  without  betraying 
himslf  ?  There  must  be  an  object  of  some  character  in 
view  of  the  present  extravagant  system  of  abstract  edu- 
cation being  psuhed  beyond  all  bounds  of  reason.  To  be 
"educated"  suggests  the  query,  what  for? 

In  all  kindness  toward  each  other,  it  should  be  recog- 
nized that  personal  responsibility  embraces  judgment  to 
the  extent  of  the  responsibility,  for  that  reason  after  ad- 
mitting the  natural  education  which  admits  of  personal 
judgment,  by  what  rule  or  from  what  authority  can  a 
person  claim  a  right  to  judge  another?  It  is  not  from 
Scripture  that  such  presumption  is  recognized.  The 
Bible  is  very  explicit  upon  this  point,  and  any  attempt 
of  a  pedant  to  protect  his  own  personality  by  hiding  be- 
hind precepts  would  all  the  more  expose  him  to  a  child. 

The  authority  of  the  state  and  abstract  society,  which 
is  commonly  termed  "Society"  without  qualifying  the 
word,  presents  a  different  problem  since  the  "divine 
rights  of  Kings"  were  exploded  by  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. The  pedagogue  must  fall  back  upon  the  apotheosis 
vanity  of  the  ancients  who,  with  their  esoteric  ability, 


52  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

even  made  and  unmade  Kings.  It  is  the  very  first  prin- 
ciple of  present  conditions  to  demand  credentials  from  a 
self-elect  commander.  What  humanity  is  hungry  for, 
is  fact,  and  not  complex  words  mounted  upon  a  swivel 
which  plays  one  tune  in  public  and  another  in  private. 
The  state  and  society,  by  the  right  of  selection  are  ab- 
stract powers  derived  from  concrete  humanity,  over 
which  a  Higher  Power  rules.  Mere  precepts  in  the  ab- 
sence of  examples,  are  as  empty  as  a  poor  man's  pockets. 

It  is  certainly  a  privilege  of  the  new-born  babe  to  open 
its  mouth  without  being  dependent  upon  a  pedagogue,  or 
asking  permission.  If  there  is  any  fundamental  principle 
of  human  life  more  important,  it  does  not  detract  from 
the  necessary  dependence  of  both  state  and  society  upon 
that  trifling  circumstance.  It  is  a  synthesis  that  com- 
mands attention  before  the  prerogatives  of  predecessors 
can  be  considered.  The  new-born  babe  is  a  messenger 
from  God,  whether  his  predecessors  choose  to  recognize 
him  as  a  slave  to  serve  at  the  command  of  others  or  not, 
it  is  certain  that  he  commands  the  situation  at  the  start. 

If  the  pedagogue  thinks  that  God  strews  the  earth  with 
humanity  for  his  material  benefit,  he  would  do  well  to  lay 
aside  his  pagan  literature  for  a  brief  season  and  read  the 
Bible,  just  to  refresh  his  memory,  for  his  early  Christian 
diet  may  have  escaped  him.  Christ's  teaching,  even  if  it 
was  mysterious,  showed  more  respect  for  children  than 
the  average  pedagogue  of  the  present  day,  for  he  did  not 
discriminate  in  proclaiming  that  unless  "Ye  become  as 
a  little  child,  etc."  The  theorem  that  the  child  depends 
upon  the  parent  is  only  half  true,  and  the  silence  in  re- 
gard to  the  more  important  half  in  order  to  make  the 
truth  whole  is  what  the  learned  pedagogue  does  not  care 
to  read  about  when  it  disturbs  his  material  interest.    He 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  53 

can  appeal  to  the  fears  of  the  parent,  and  explain  the 
helplessness  of  the  child,  besides  not  forgetting  to  charge 
a  good  round  sum  for  his  advice  in  the  interest  of  modern 
culture.  It  is  also  very  comforting  to  have  expectations 
expanded  if  the  child's  training  is  properly  attended  to. 
The  silence,  however,  in  regard  to  the  protection  the 
child  receives  direct  from  its  Creator  is  ominous ;  it  sug- 
gests a  purpose,  the  economy  of  which  being  withheld 
from  the  parent  enables  the  pedagogue  to  appropriate 
the  entire  credit  of  the  child's  present  and  future  also. 

It  is  no  reflection  upon  the  literal  ability  of  a  learned 
pedagogue,  in  fact,  it  is  a  recognition  of  his  being  able 
to  point  to  modern  civilization  and  picture  to  the  credu- 
lous mind  what  might  have  been  if  progress  in  knowl- 
edge had  been  withheld  from  humanity.  It  could  be 
added  with  some  profit,  perhaps,  that  the  privilege  of  only 
a  few  to  profit  by  the  "apple"  of  discord  was  the  most 
potent  feature  of  knowledge.  The  initiative  character  of 
literal  education  is  more  noisy  and  profound  than  the 
natural  model  from  which  it  is  copied ;  its  greater  promi- 
nence makes  it  appear  more  necessary  even  than  the  real. 

The  simple  fact  that  no  amount  of  teaching  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  single  experience,  makes  the  pedagogue  a  dis- 
sembler if  he  seeks  to  protect  the  rigidity  of  rules  and 
form,  as  essential  to  the  distribution  of  knowledge. 
While  esthetics  is  equally  a  privilege  with  knowledge  it 
can  be  extravagantly  set  forth  to  attract  the  confidence 
for  the  purpose  of  betraying  it.  It  is  not  the  fault  of  the 
child  or  the  ignorant  adult  even,  that  he  can  be  taught 
or  trained  to  obey  the  command  of  the  pedagogue  any 
more  than  it  is  the  fault  of  a  child  to  fall  down  in  trying 
to  walk.  As  this  is  the  cardinal  principle  of  obtaining 
real  knowledge,  it  is  just  as  much  slavery  to  pretend  to 


54  THE    ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

teach  literal  signs  to  disguise  the  fundamental  principle 
from  which  all  knowledge  is  derived. 

Nature  extends  credit  on  demand,  but  it  is  quite  an- 
other affair  to  even  attempt  to  escape  payment;  slight 
warnings  can  be  obtained  by  the  venturesome,  and  the 
pedagogue  can  pretend  to  teach  a  child  how  to  jump 
his  obligations  to  Nature,  and  transfer  them  to  himself, 
but  quite  often  the  child  discovers  when  it  is  too  late  that 
Nature  has  to  be  settled  with  whether  the  pedagogue  was 
sincere  or  not.  It  is  this  inflexible  character  of  Nature 
that  the  child  wants  explained.  It  is  evident  from  the 
perplexing  questions  of  a  child  that  it  often  knows  more 
than  the  pedagogue  who  frequently  appears  to  the  child 
the  equal  of  its  Creator.  If  the  child  must  fall  to  obtain 
knowledge,  which  the  pedagogue  even  must  know  if  he 
knows  how  to  read,  what  right  has  he  to  betray  the  con- 
fidence of  a  child  to  protect  some  theoretic  hobby  of  his 
own?  The  child  is  his  superior  in  spiritual  knowledge  if 
he  really  believes  that  after  God  bestowed  spiritual 
knowledge  to  a  child  and  then  betrayed  its  confidence  by 
designing  a  proxy  to  teach  the  child  that  imitation 
knowledge  was  more  important  than  the  real. 

It  is  the  birthright  of  every  human  being  that  can  feel 
by  their  own  experience  the  difference  between  hot  and 
cold,  to  assert  as  often  as  they  can  experience  anything, 
that  knowledge  is  a  cardinal  fact  of  intrinsic  value,  be- 
sides, that  natural  education  is  all  there  is  or  ever  was. 
The  invention  of  signs  to  portray  thoughts,  enabling  hu- 
manity to  correspond  and  enter  into  trade  relation,  never 
added  a  fraction  to  knowledge.  By  reason  of  the  flexible 
character  of  human  organs,  the  child  can  be  taught  es- 
thetics of  every  variety,  and  also  indulgences  as  readily 
as  merchandise  can  be  sold  at  a  bargain  store,  but  that  is 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  55 

the  limit,  pertaining  only  to  natural  things.  But  in  spir- 
ituality there  is  no  evidence  since  the  earth  was  inhab- 
ited more  reliable  than  the  ability  of  a  babe  to  open  its 
mouth  with  its  feeble  testimony,  that  God  is  the  only  spir- 
itual educator  that  the  "world"  has  ever  known,  and  the 
Bible  is  the  best  literal  record  of  the  fact  that  the  entire 
literature  of  the  world  ever  produced. 

People  can  object  on  credit  to  whatever  they  choose, 
but  when  they  object  to  a  settlement,  the  material  organs 
will  be  powerless  to  prevent  it.  The  pedagogue  can  pre- 
scribe remedies,  teach  generalities  and  prove  literally 
that  abstracts  are  new  creations,  but  the  silent  spirit  will 
not  be  analyzed  by  any  literal  method  that  must  first 
show  a  better  title  to  the  privilege  than  a  babe  that  can 
open  its  mouth.  The  clerical  class  of  humanity — the  lit- 
erary class — the  professional  class,  constitute  the  "man  of 
letters"  simply  learned  in  the  application  of  words  to 
facts,  in  technical  parlance  it  is  symbolism,  as  distinct 
from  the  natural  and  spiritual,  as  matter  is  from  life. 
The  ultra  learned  in  symbolism  have  always  tried  to 
maintain  a  relation  to  spirit  of  a  controlling  character 
that  the  unlettered  man  appeared  powerless  to  contend 
against.  It  also  gave  the  semblance  of  fact  from  the 
reason  that  symbolism  (practically  idolatry)  had  such  a 
remarkable  influence  over  the  simple  minded  or  the  un- 
lettered class.  In  the  very  early  days  the  men  of  let- 
ters were  apotheosized  by  the  very  ability  to  comprehend 
them.  Natural  knowledge  was  simply  transcended  by  the 
literal  and  to  the  timid,  art  appeared  to  transcend  Na- 
ture. Even  the  artificer  could  possibly  be  deceived  by 
the  success  of  his  schemes. 

It  appeared  to  be  overlooked  that  the  learning  of  let- 
ters was  a  common  privilege  bestowed  upon  the  entire 


56  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

human  race,  otherwise  the  greed  of  man  would  have  de- 
stroyed the  entire  race  before  the  Christian  era  was 
reached.  Wars  were  always  inaugurated  by  the  ultra 
learned  in  contention  against  the  influence  of  the  mod- 
erately learned  who  dared  to  advocate  the  common  privi- 
lege of  learning.  The  illiterate  had  no  idea  of  what  they 
wanted  until  they  got  a  taste  of  it,  and  the  same  situa- 
tion exists  at  the  present  time.  It  is  idle  for  anyone  to 
pretend  that  the  ultra  learned  are  willing  to  acknowledge 
a  common  privilege  to  the  possession  of  knowledge.  That 
is,  the  pedagogue  would  not  forsake  his  own  calling  by 
teaching  that  natural  knowledge  was  as  potent  as  his 
symbolism,  or  that  his  teaching  was  only  a  transmission 
of  the  natural  for  his  own  and  his  compeers'  material 
benefit. 

Education  as  a  means  of  common  communication  has 
been  vigorously  opposed  by  example,  for  after  it  was  dis- 
covered that  common  humanity  was  born  with  lan- 
guage, that  could  not  be  smothered,  extravagant  methods 
of  classifications  were  adopted  to  accomplish  the  same 
end.  The  fact  remains  that  all  methods  of  enslaving  the 
apparently  defenceless  are  only  temporal,  either  by  peda- 
gogues or  slave  owners.  Literal  education  enables  a  per- 
son to  hide  his  selfishness,  by  advocating  education  with 
the  inference  that  the  ultra  learned  are  striving  to  edu- 
cate the  masses.  There  is  a  spiritual  education  that  will 
crop  out  that  makes  man's  pretension  always  a  failure. 
It  points  to  the  fact  that  the  spiritual  Teacher  is  undis- 
turbed by  the  presumption  of  the  pedagogue  who  teaches 
the  necessity  of  a  proxy  in  order  to  protect  his  own  busi- 
ness. 

It  is  generally  understood  to  take  the  property  of  an- 
other is  stealing.    The  privilege  of  animals  to  take  what- 


^     Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 
=^=S^^™B=^e5N0MY   OF   EDUCATION.  5/ 

ever  they  need  to  sustain  life  is  admitted  to  be  the  right 
of  instinct.  It  naturally  follows  that  a  man  must  know 
that  he  is  taking  the  property  belonging  to  another  be- 
fore he  could  be  classed  as  a  superior  being  to  the  brute. 
A  brute  therefore,  in  order  to  be  what  the  word  "brute" 
signifies  must  be  utterly  unconscious  that  he  is  one,  which 
would  throw  the  responsibility  of  calling  another  "a 
brute"  upon  the  first  person  rather  than  the  second.  It 
is  no  secret  that  brutes  can  be  taught  obedience  and  be 
compelled  to  serve  a  master  who  is  privileged  to  treat 
them  as  property,  and  also  enjoy  the  service  The  same 
principle  was  applied  to  human  beings  who  lacked  the 
means  of  defence,  and  the  mere  calling  a  man  a  brute 
was  the  only  justification  for  one  man  taking  the  services 
of  another  man,  in  exchange  for  whatever  the  taker 
chose  to  render.     Such  was  the  old  style  of  slavery. 

It  is  slowly  dawning  upon  the  entire  human  race  that 
knowledge  was  revealed  to  individual  man  at  birth  and 
only  by  a  specific  system  of  education  can  a  single  person 
be  convinced  that  he  is  mistaken.  The  pedagogue  who 
would  teach  obedience  and  sell  precepts  for  cash  to  a 
willing  pupil  or  compelled  to  appear  willing,  while  he, 
the  pedagogue,  did  not  choose  to  practice  his  own  teach- 
ing, would  be  taking  property  without  rendering  an 
equivalent ;  practically  stealing  because  the  teacher  would 
know  his  precepts  were  worthless  to  whatever  extent  he 
failed  to  practice  them  himself.  At  least,  even  if  the  pre- 
cepts were  virtuous,  he  could  not  hide  his  propensity  to 
steal  when  he  was  selling  second-hand  virtue  to  another, 
that  by  his  own  acts  showing  that  virtue  was  not  a  pro- 
duct of  literal  knowledge. 


58  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SCIENCE. 

T  T  would  be  as  difficult  to  explain  how  science  could  be 
-*•  literally  taught  as  for  educators  to  agree  upon  what 
constituted  education.  It  is  this  vagueness  which  is 
acknowledged  by  the  very  persons  who  profess  to  be  edu- 
cators and  frequently  uphold  compulsory  education,  that 
betrays  a  hidden  intention;  while  the  very  act  of  trying 
to  conceal  something  attracts  the  attention  and  suggests 
the  thought  that  the  concealment  is  a  scientific  method 
to  reveal  the  object. 

While  a  science  can  be  taught,  science  proper  is  as  un- 
teachable  as  knowledge  proper.  One  might  as  well  pre- 
tend to  teach  love,  virtue,  sense,  or  teach  a  corpse  to 
breathe,  as  to  to  teach  the  concrete  principle  of  science. 
The  commercial  profit  of  education  makes  it  extremely 
hazardous  for  an  educator  to  betray  the  business.  It  is 
a  science  of  the  greatest  importance  to  obtain  customers 
for  whatever  business  from  which  a  person  chooses  to 
obtain  a  living.  It  would  not  be  scientific  to  establish  a 
department  store  on  a  desolate  island;  neither  would  it 
be  prudent  for  a  man  choosing  to  earn  his  living  by  edu- 
cating others,  to  teach  his  customers  they  obtained  all 
the  protoplasm  of  science  and  knowledge  at  birth  they 
would  ever  have  which  depended  upon  individual  will 
and  external  influences  for  possible  development,  also 
courage  that  was  not  a  purchasable  feature. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  59 

To  teach  the  simple  fact  that  the  intrinsic  value  of  sci- 
ence and  knowledge  was  bestowed  upon  the  individual 
by  the  Creator  would  detract  from  the  commercial  profit 
of  education.  The  merchant  always  aims  to  make  his 
goods  attractive,  and  the  rule  would  equally  apply  to  the 
educator.  That  the  educator  has  no  greater  claim  to 
purity  of  purpose  or  that  his  goods  are  other  than  ma- 
terial in  character  is  proof  enough  when  he  omits  to 
teach  the  whole  truth  about  his  goods.  The  realm  of 
science  is  admitted  to  be  limited  to  material  things,  the 
gulf  between  spirit  and  matter  has  never  been  bridged. 
It  is  the  realm  of  theology  and  whatever  differences  are 
literally  disputed  with  science  and  entwined  in  the  prin- 
ciple of  education  it  does  not  justify  the  forced  sale  of 
conclusions  to  a  credulous  humanity. 

If  it  was  a  voluntary  privilege  to  purchase  education 
from  disputing  educators  it  would  not  be  a  serious  mat- 
ter, but  when  the  whole  truth  is  withheld,  and  the  people 
are  forced  to  pay  for  what  Christ  taught  free,  it  throws 
light  upon  the  conflict.  The  jealous  care  which  educa- 
tors pursue  for  fear  the  simple  truth  will  be  taught  with 
economy,  suggests  a  fear  that  the  common  people  would 
spoil  the  commercial  benefit  by  becoming  as  knowing  as 
their  teachers. 

It  is  just  as  honorable  to  sell  education  as  it  is  to  sell 
merchandise,  but  when  a  person  is  obliged  to  economize 
in  one  case  to  meet  the  compulsory  demand  in  the  other, 
it  is  not  what  the  Bible  teaches. 

It  could  be  objected  to  by  the  assertion  that  the  Bible 
did  teach  compulsory  discipline  by  the  "settled"  inter- 
pretations of  the  Scriptures,  but  it  couldn't  be  proved 
that  a  person  is  denied  by  Scriptures  the  privilege  of 
reading  the  Bible  and  determining  by  the  reading  itself 


60  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

just  what  the  book  did  teach.  If  moral  suasion  is  not  one 
of  the  special  features  of  the  Bible  and  also  its  sim- 
plicity of  understanding,  it  would  never  have  survived 
the  political  effort  to  destroy  it.  It  even  outlives  politi- 
cal commercialism  that  has  ever  tried  to  hide  among  its 
numerous  precepts.  Science,  knowledge  and  experience 
relate  to  the  discovery  of  something  that  must,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  have  a  previous  existence,  thus  education  can- 
not be  more  than  an  abstract.  When  the  histories  of  won- 
derful inventions  are  considered,  which  were  in  most  all 
cases  combatted  by  the  learned  of  the  period,  it  should 
point  to  birth  as  the  most  wonderful  knowledge  that  a 
person  ever  experiences.  The  continuance  of  experi- 
ence is  the  event  of  a  new  birth  just  as  surprising  and 
unexpected  as  the  first  experience.  It  is  just  as  much  a 
scientific  discovery  that  words  can  disprove  whatever 
words  can  express,  as  the  discovery  of  intelligence 
enough  to  make  corresponding  signs  that  reveal  social 
communications.  The  effort  that  educators  make  to 
prove  their  theories,  in  whatever  abstract  education  they 
are  interested,  betrays  a  hidden  purpose  in  seeking  to  es- 
tablish a  dependency  of  the  child  upon  society.  Adult 
persons  often  appear  to  be  sincere  in  believing  that  what 
they  "know  to  be  a  fact"  is  simply  absurd  for  anyone  to 
contradict.  While  there  is  a  mutual  dependence  of  both, 
the  whole  truth  is  to  take  advantage  of  the  child's  ina- 
bility to  defend  itself.  The  child,  however,  has  a  prior 
claim  to  experience  and  spiritual  knowledge  from  which 
all  literal  knowledge  is  a  mere  abstract.  Besides,  the 
child  reared  to  an  adult  age,  can  exist  independent  of  so- 
ciety, which  in  turn  cannot  exist  except  for  its  units  in 
their  very  effort  to  hide  it,  for  fear  makes  it  possible, 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  6l 

when  a  continuity  of  birth  reveals  the  source  of  knowl- 
edge to  be  spiritual  rather  than  literal. 

The  subterfuge  by  which  the  educator  evades  the  fact 
does  not  in  any  sense  detract  from  the  intrinsic  value  of 
either  knowledge  or  education,  for  silence  does  not  con- 
stitute ignorance.  Fear,  however,  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant factors  of  scientific  study  that  the  human  race 
has  to  deal  with.  Education  as  a  science  and  adopted  by 
an  educator  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  betrays  the  dual 
character  of  fear  by  exposing  his  own  in  not  only  teach- 
ing the  natural  phenomenon  of  fear,  but  exemplifying 
the  principle.  That  is,  he  betrays  his  own  selfishness  in 
his  very  effort  to  hide  it,  for  fear  makes  it  possible  to 
mislead  another  while  it  is  fear  also  that  suggests  the  act 
of  misleading.  It  is  only  from  an  appeal  to  fear,  that 
any  profit  could  be  obtained  in  teaching  abstract  educa- 
tion. To  attempt  to  teach  a  child  experience  would  be 
absurd,  while  on  the  other  hand  its  future  possibilities 
can  be  crushed  like  the  breaking  of  an  egg,  when  to  re- 
pair the  damage  would  be  as  impossible  as  to  teach  ex- 
perience. 

The  science  of  letters  was  derived  from  the  same  prim- 
itive utterance  that  every  human  birth  is  endowed  with, 
and  it  appears  as  a  reasonable  speculation  to  consider  a 
child  so  carefully  reared  upon  a  plane  where  there  was 
no  danger  of  falling,  when  every  effort  of  the  child  to 
walk  or  raise  itself  was  carefully  guarded,  the  sense  of 
fear  could  only  be  deducted  from  observation,  thus  in  the 
absence  of  a  fall  the  real  sense  of  fear  could  not  be 
taught  to  the  child  by  any  process  of  signs  or  words.  Its 
imitative  faculty  could  possibly  enable  it  to  speak  the 
word  fear,  but  it  could  never  know  what  the  word  meant 


62  THE    ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

without  a  corresponding  sensation  to  compare  the  word 
with. 

There  seems  to  be  a  united  purpose  in  all  educational 
writings  to  deprive  the  child  of  its  title  to  the  origin  of 
language  at  birth.  The  universal  effort  to  hide  the  fact 
is  very  strong  evidence  that  writers  know  what  they  are 
hiding,  for  to  admit  that  knowledge  was  only  possible 
by  experience  derived  from  a  fall  would  make  tyrants, 
task-masters  and  politicians  quake  with  fear.  The  appar- 
ent non-resistence  of  childhood  is  analogous  to  the  adult 
slave  that  was  treated  as  a  mere  animal  or  irrational  be- 
ing. That  educational  writers,  practically  in  command 
of  the  present  educational  system,  insist  upon  giving 
the  ancients  credit  for  discovering  knowledge  that  we 
should  be  duly  grateful  for,  hides  the  same  purpose  of 
the  early  educators. 

The  profit  derived  from  treating  knowledge  as  a  com- 
mercial commodity  makes  its  economy  depend  upon  the 
fear  of  its  victims,  precisely  the  same  as  chattel  slavery 
was  modified  in  proportion  to  the  courage  of  the  slave 
in  refusing  to  be  enslaved.  The  fall  of  the  infant  in  its 
eflFort  to  walk  surely  points  to  a  recognition  of  the  su- 
perior charcater  of  the  spiritual  or  natural  education  over 
the  literal,  which  never  had  a  real  existence  except  as  an 
abstract  from  the  real. 

Abstract  education  produces  an  abstract  society  which 
has  always  destroyed  itself  by  its  own  voluntary  corrup- 
tion, while  concrete  society  profits  in  proportion  as  it 
avoids  the  mistakes  of  its  predecessors  rather  than  emu- 
late them.  Evil  is  defined  as  "having  bad  natural  quali- 
ties," but  the  temporal  character  of  evil  compared  with 
the  spiritual  character  of  knowledge,  which  to  be  spir- 
itual knowledge    must   be    good    and    true,    shows    the 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  6^ 

effort  of  educators  to  apotheosize  themselves  by  literal 
correspondence.  The  past  history  of  dominant  society  is 
not  very  flattering  to  the  success  of  present  social  condi- 
tions. It  points  to  a  serious  mistake  of  educators  in  their 
continued  efforts  to  transcend  the  natural  by  their  literal 
ability  to  declare  by  their  own  fiat  that  the  natural  is 
evil. 

Educators  who  pose  as  such  could  scarcely  be  so  defi- 
cient in  judgment  not  to  notice  that  their  persistence 
in  contending  against  natural  knowledge  has  always  been 
a  stern  chase.  Every  birth  is  a  messenger  from  God  in 
rebuttal  to  the  literary  theory  that  the  child's  future  de- 
pends upon  a  strict  obedience  to  the  accumulated  knowl- 
edge of  its  predecessors.  There  are  plenty  of  personal  ex- 
amples recognized  to  be  in  good  standing  in  dominant 
society  that  would  not  be  in  a  worse  plight  if  they  could 
return  to  their  natural  or  even  aboriginal  state.  If  such 
conditions  are  due  to  natural  environments,  it  is  poor 
encouragement  for  a  thoughtful  child  to  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  its  predecessors. 

The  latest  suggestions  in  a  prominent  text-book  writ- 
ten by  an  educator  of  note  is  the  necessity  of  breaking 
the  will  of  the  child  in  its  cradle  that  it  may  learn  the  im- 
portance of  obedience  and  reverence  toward  its  superiors 
in  wisdom.  If  a  more  rapid  rate  of  race  suicide  could  be 
suggested,  it  would  necessarily  embrace  the  instruction 
to  parents  identified  with  dominant  society  to  refrain 
from  the  annoyance  of  progeny  altogether.  It  would 
certainly  accord  with  pagan  prerogatives  from  which 
source  the  larger  portion  of  literal  precepts  are  derived. 
There  is  no  form  of  blasphemy  more  pernicious  than  the 
extravagant  use  of  words  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to 
man's  works  a  visionary  supercedure  over  the  works  of 


64  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

God.  However  obvious  it  may  be  to  the  laymen,  nothing 
but  silence  from  a  literary  standpoint  seems  to  offer  any 
avenue  of  escape  from  slavish  submission.  The  Bible, 
however,  is  an  unbiased  record  of  the  unseen,  entirely 
free  from  politics  or  commercialism.  Its  multitude  of 
compendiums  and  interpretations  is  more  to  console  the 
interests  of  dominant  society  than  to  enlighten  the  sim- 
ple-minded reader.  It  is  a  self-revealing  fact  that  the 
most  humble  and  lowly  cannot  be  deprived  of,  for  if 
every  Book  could  be  destroyed  it  would  spring  into  life 
again  from  traditional  memory.  God  never  forsakes  the 
child  after  the  touch  of  spirit  reveals  His  presence.  Ma- 
terial punishment  follows  a  neglect  of  the  will,  and  just 
in  proportion  as  the  will  is  crushed,  responsibility  ceases. 
Literature  is  the  record  of  human  experiences,  it  is  all 
derived  from  spiritual  revelations,  and  except  for  the 
perverting  effort  of  vain-glorious  man  in  his  acquire- 
ments of  a  superabundance  of  literal  implements,  natural 
revelations  would  mean  exactly  what  the  spiritual  stands 
for.  Experience  is  birth,  the  equivalent  of  science  and 
knowledge  both.  Experience  is  as  unexpected  as  birth, 
and  the  effort  of  the  literal  educator  to  cultivate  the  will 
(by  crushing  it)  or  teach  experience  to  a  babe  is  as  im- 
possible as  to  teach  an  earthquake  how  to  behave.  The 
science  of  education  is  so  equally  balanced  between  good 
conduct  and  bad  conduct,  that  the  action  of  the  child  is 
guided  by  the  preponderance  of  either  science,  but  the 
redeeming  power  of  the  sense  of  love  transcends  every 
literal  invention  that  man  ever  discovered.  If  literal  ef- 
forts could  close  the  mouths  of  babes,  before  they  could 
speak  in  the  voice  of  God,  the  vast  accumulation  of  lit- 
eral knowledge  would  become  as  silent  as  dead  matter. 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  65 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

TEMPTATION. 

I^HE  child  is  literally  taught  by  its  predecessors  to  pray, 
'■■  "Lead  me  not  into  temptation."  It  is  spiritually  taught 
by  its  Creator :  "Lead  me  to  contend  against  temptation." 
The  former  suggests  the  material,  and  some  who  might 
seek  to  conceal  a  bias  would  hold  that  the  material  in- 
cluded the  natural.  It  is  equally  a  privilege  to  hold  that 
the  spiritual  includes  the  natural,  besides  being  very  im- 
portant if  the  rule  of  logic  is  to  be  respected. 
It  remains  to  be  proved  whether  literal  instruc- 
tions are  obeyed  by  Nature,  while  there  is  literal 
evidence  even  that  was  never  impeached  success- 
fully, that  the  spiritual  and  natural  were  other 
than  the  One  principle  by  which  existence  is  possible. 
Temptation  is  just  as  necessary  to  mental  growth  as  the 
fall  of  a  child  is  to  the  acquiring  of  knowledge.  If 
temptation  could  be  suspended  entirely  by  literal  educa- 
tors, which  their  instructions  and  writings  often  imply,  it 
could  readily  be  seen  that  no  distinction  could  exist  be- 
tween the  animal  and  human.  The  effort  to  teach  this 
principle  is  a  reiteration  of  spiritual  teaching  and  forms 
the  most  remarkable  temptation  that  humanity  has  to 
contend  against.  If  temptations  were  a  mere  figure  of 
speech  to  illustrate  what  could  be  avoided  by  a  strict  obe- 
dience to  literal  teaching,  the  result  would  be  the  same  as 
if  no  temptation  existed.  That  is,  if  they  were  treated  as 
stories  to  frighten  children  into  obedience,  the  distinction 


66  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

between  an  animal  and  a  rational  being  would  be  as  im- 
possible as  for  a  child  to  obtain  knowledge  without  a 
fall.  Because  a  person  in  the  absence  of  experience  per 
se  cannot  comprehend  what  another's  actual  experience 
might  have  been,  it  would  be  absurd  to  doubt  it,  and 
much  more  so  to  undertake  to  prove  it  on  theoretic 
grounds.  If  the  sacredness  of  personality  had  no  pro- 
tection against  the  formulated  theories  of  one's  pre- 
decessors, the  very  animals  could  be  envied  their 
freedom  by  a  child  who  is  confused,  in  being  taught 
obedience  without  any  qualifications,  and  personal  re- 
sponsibillity  also.  The  inconsistencies  of  parents  and 
adults  are  more  quickly  noticed  by  children  than 
adults  observe  each  other's,  for  the  reason  that  adults 
grow  more  biased  in  opinion  as  they  yield  to  tempta- 
tion and  listen  to  contemporaries  who  present  a  bril- 
liant theory  of  how  temptations  were  at  fault,  show- 
ing the  necessity  of  even  whipping  children  for  imitat- 
ing their  parents  in  what  they  would  naturally  flee 
from.  God  never  forsakes  the  child  in  the  communion 
of  spirit;  and  its  petition  for  protection  against  mate- 
rial greed  is  more  educational  than  all  the  literal  ef- 
fort directed  toward  the  destruction  of  temptation 
which  is  just  as  necessary  to  the  growth  of  a  child  as 
its  mouth  is  to  take  food. 

When  theories  predominate  in  the  individual  mind 
over  experience  it  presents  a  condition  that  experience 
alone  can  demonstrate  in  precisely  the  same  manner 
as  the  senses  teach  what  to  shun ;  if  such  experience 
could  be  transmitted  from  parent  to  child,  fear  would 
predominate  over  the  most  brilliant  temptation. 
These  thoughts  could  be  verified  by  a  person  having 
had    a    diversity    of    experience,    and    also    observe   the 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  67 

ridiculous  effort  of  a  devotee  of  theory  to  doubt  the 
experience  of  another.  That  is,  a  person  so  devoted  to 
literal  acquirements  that  he  would  attempt  to  con- 
vince a  child  it  was  mistaken  in  an  experience  that 
might  have  occurred  contrary  to  literal  rules,  which 
are  often  declared  "settled"  by  predecessors. 

The  effort  to  smother  the  experience  of  children  by 
a  confusing  variety  of  temptations  is  the  worst  form 
of  slavery  that  humanity  has  to  contend  with.  It  is 
due  to  the  greed  of  educators  more  devoted  to  their 
personal  profit  than  the  welfare  of  the  children.  If 
what  is  termed  a  "willful  child"  can  be  brought  into 
complete  accord  with  literal  authority,  it  becomes 
dead  to  further  progress  (this  is  a  mere  figure  of 
speech,  however,  to  show  that  the  child  is  persuaded 
to  accept  second-hand  literal  authority  in  place  of 
direct  spiritual  authority).  Nothing  but  the  severest 
experience  can  regenerate  a  person  after  he  can  be 
persuaded  to  choose  material  reward  disguised  in  a 
promise  for  prospective  spiritual  reward.  Experience 
will  reveal  what  no  amount  of  literal  signs  can  con- 
tend against,  for  God  never  forsakes  a  human  being  for 
being  misled,  but  when  a  person  defies  experience 
which  is  spiritual  instruction,  the  punishment  will 
follow  with  increased  severity  until  life  or  death  ter- 
minates the  struggle. 

A  good  many  educators  and  preachers  can  be  left  to 
exercise  judgment  upon  their  own  acts,  but  God  per- 
mits their  observers  to  judge  themselves  also,  and 
however  pure  literal  precepts  may  be  taught,  the  fail- 
ures of  the  teacher  to  practice  his  own  teaching  will 
not  escape  the  attention  of  a  child.  Thus  extravagant 
methods    of   education   can   only    be    maintained   by 


68  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

showing  contempt  for  natural  experience  and  also  by 
a  delusive  theory,  itself  a  temptation,  that  natural 
knowledge  literally  distributed,  which  is  education, 
can  only  be  obtained  by  either  service  or  money.  No 
economy  would  be  considered  by  such  as  are  deluded 
into  a  sincere  belief  of  a  fallacy  that  even  a  child 
could  explode. 

What  is  the  present  extravagant  system  of  educa- 
tion leading  to,  if  only  to  babes  can  one  look  for  a 
spiritually  pure  human  being?  When  the  mad  rush 
for  literal  education  taxes  the  food  producers  to  the 
extent  of  closing  the  mouths  of  babes,  what  but  the 
grave  is  open  for  the  visionary  idealist  that  refuses  to 
see  a  logical  end  of  the  continual  increase  of  non-pro- 
ducers? There  is  no  evidence  that  God  is  so  distant 
that  a  petition  to  Him  will  be  disdained  with  a  lofty 
refusal  to  listen  to  the  overtaxed  energy  of  what  is 
proclaimed  to  be  a  "free  people."  It  is  a  strange 
anomaly  that  the  ultra  learned  fail  to  grasp,  if  their 
writings  are  convictions  of  the  "good  and  true"  they 
so  ably  express,  for  while  concrete  humanity  as  a 
whole  are  becoming  more  civilized,  abstract  society 
is  growing  more  corrupt.  Is  it  because  an  attractive 
temptation  is  so  necessary  to  progress  that  "society," 
as  it  is  termed,  educated  at  the  expense  of  taxation, 
is  so  willing  to  pose  as  a  temptation  to  posterity  as  an 
object  to  be  avoided,  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole,  or  is 
it  from  God's  messenger — the  babe — that  civilization 
is  possible? 

The  wisdom  of  God  is  the  only  real  education  from 
which  the  literal  is  but  a  shadow.  Its  most  remark- 
able feature  is,  that  the  shadow  is  utilized  for  commer- 
cial profit,  while  the  object  from  which  it  is  cast  is 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  69 

always  free  and  at  hand.  The  equipoise  between 
temptation  and  God's  government  is  analogous  to 
good  and  evil,  it  also  shows  the  perfection  of  God 
against  the  imperfection  of  man  in  his  conduct  after 
being  born  as  perfect  as  his  Creator.  Temptation 
leads  the  child  away,  not  to  destruction,  however,  for 
every  experience  of  evil  or  a  "fall"  teaches  a  method 
to  overcome  whatever  particular  evil  is  encountered. 
It  is  the  defiance  of  actual  experience  and  the  submis- 
sion of  human  teachers  that  leads  to  destruction,  of 
which  abstract  society  has  always  been  the  evidence. 
It  is  a  disobedience  toward  God  and  following  the 
shadow  of  education,  which  is  literal  teaching,  that 
leads  to  misery,  and  always  ably  defended  by  vanity. 

The  educator  has  to  contend  with  temptation  to  the 
extent  of  his  experience,  for  it  is  as  difficult  to  com- 
prehend a  responsibility  in  the  absence  of  a  knowl- 
edge per  se,  of  evil,  as  to  have  a  comprehension  of 
existence  prior  to  birth.  There  is  no  greater  tempta- 
tion than  money,  for  it  is  the  golden  string  that  will 
lead  a  saint  or  an  "angel"  after  getting  a  firm  grasp  to 
one  end  of  the  string;  what  is  on  the  other  end  is  of 
no  consequence  while  the  fever  lasts.  If  an  educator 
is  ignorant  of  actual  experience,  and  so  smothered 
with  literal  precepts  as  to  have  lost  possession  of  his 
natural  judgment,  he  is  as  innocent  as  a  babe,  but  if 
he  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  money  in  payment 
for  his  second-hand  teaching,  he  will  be  more  severely 
punished  than  his  victims  who  may  have  judgment 
enough  to  avoid  his  example  which  will  also  reveal 
the  fact  that  his  literal  precepts  can  be  obtained  free 
of  cost  direct  from  the  Creator. 

The  principle  of  temptation  is  a  permanent  factor 


yO  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

of  human  development,  it  accounts  for  the  existence  of 
vanity  in  the  possession  of  a  greater  abundance  of 
literal  tools.  The  carpenter  could  feel  that  he  was 
adding  to  his  ability  in  proportion  to  the  greater  va- 
riety of  tools  he  possessed,  which  is  analogous  to  the 
educator  with  his  variety  of  literary  tools.  The  char- 
acter of  both,  however,  could  only  be  determined  by 
their  ability  to  contend  against  temptation.  That  is, 
ability  is  dangerous  in  the  absence  of  substantial  char- 
acter. Excessive  modesty  is  often  but  a  veil  to  hide 
vanity  and  conceit,  for  that  reason  the  ability  to  con- 
quer temptation  in  its  multitude  of  forms  is  a  prac- 
tical education  that  literal  tools  are  powerless  to  ac- 
complish. An  apparently  friendly  act  that  is  charged 
on  account,  to  the  recipient,  is  temptation  in  the  most 
subtle  disguise,  for  it  is  prompted  by  the  expectation 
of  payment  with  interest  added.  There  are,  however, 
honest  educators  more  noticeable  after  death  than 
any  noise  they  made  in  the  flesh,  for  philanthropist  in 
the  flesh  would  be  as  difficult  to  find  as  to  look  for  one 
in  a  political  gathering.  When  the  principle  of  educa- 
tion is  so  natural,  that  even  animals  appear  to  seek  it 
with  delight  it  is  like  trying  to  make  merchandise  of 
sunshine  as  to  traffic  in  education  for  the  sole  object 
of  dollars. 

Pictures  are  educational  in  a  moderate  degree. 
They  are  innocent  temptations  so  far  as  they  lead  to 
the  comprehension  of  reality.  But  when  they  are  ex- 
travagantly used  to  teach  ideal  expectations  in  con- 
tempt for  real  and  natural  conditions,  such  teaching 
becomes  idolatrous.  It  is  like  utilizing  fire  to  a  rea- 
sonable extent,  when  an  extravagant  use  would  lead 
to  its  becoming  the  master  rather  than  the  servant. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  7I 

An  over-production  of  merchandise  will  lead  to  a 
counter  depression  of  activities,  hence  if  it  is  a  fact 
that  literal  education — an  abstract  from  the  real — is 
encouraged  for  the  double  purpose  of  profit  in  teach- 
ing and  the  prospect  of  escaping  the  necessary  labor 
that  Nature  demands,  what  but  revolution  of  some 
kind  will  correct  the  error.  It  could  scarcely  be  de- 
nied that  the  portion  of  humanity  termed  society 
was  at  all  lacking  in  literal  acquirement,  yet  it  appears 
to  be  rushing  toward  the  fire  rather  than  from  it. 

A  recent  educational  writer  refers  to  the  writing  of 
another  with  the  inference  of  indorsement,  "that  it 
might  be  necessary  to  knock  a  man  down  to  prevent 
him  from  throwing  himself  over  a  precipice,"  but  after 
he  got  out  of  reach  of  the  savior's  club  it  would  be 
analogous  to  the  present  condition  of  abstract  society 
which  is  being  literally  knocked  over  the  precipice 
of  destruction  by  being  taught  that  natural  law  could 
be  defied  by  literal  law.  The  club  of  education  is 
equally  as  defensive  as  offensive  and  the  simple  ability 
to  read  of  the  folly  of  predecessors  is  an  educational 
privilege  that  systems  of  education  founded  upon 
pagan  tyranny  will  be  powerless  to  knock  down. 

It  is  always  a  personal  problem  to  contend  against 
temptation.  The  child  is  a  living  example  of  divine 
education  that  no  system  of  literal  education  can  com- 
pare except  as  a  temptation  to  contend  with.  There 
is  only  one  Master  that  rules  the  universe  with  the 
regularity  of  the  solar  system  and  every  birth  is  an 
immaculate  conception  that  to  be  resurrected  in 
knowledge,  a  fall  is  just  as  necessary  as  an  object  to 
cast  a  shadow,  also  the  literal  record  of  the  tempta- 
tions of  Christ  means  the  same  thing,  and  any  child 


72  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

could  be  taught  to  comprehend  the  principle  before  it 
was  five  years  old  except  for  the  fact  that  its  parents 
need  regenerating  having  not  been  able  to  contend 
sucessfully  with  temptation.  But  the  influence  of 
the  child,  it  always  being  nearer  to  God,  is  the  only 
regenerating  principle  that  God's  grace  ever  bestowed 
upon  humanity;  and  the  Bible  is  a  literal  record  of 
His  perfection,  besides  the  example  of  Christ  which 
demonstrated  the  same  principle. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

DEMONOLOGY. 

IDEALISM  is  the  most  successful  literary  venture  the 
-*■  devil  ever  co-partnered  with.  Theories  would  become 
passive  except  for  their  contrarieties.  The  contraries 
in  the  action  of  a  child  are  quite  parallel  to  the  activities 
of  theories.  The  child,  however,  is  a  real  life  fact, 
while  theories  are  visionary  prospects  of  ideal  con- 
struction that  in  the  absence  of  a  little  material,  the 
product  of  ideals  are  more  ideals.  Energy  is  an  em- 
bryo ideal  in  passive  submission  to  the  equity  of  its 
^environments,  but  like  the  fall  of  the  child,  motion 
must  have  space  to  move  in. 

The  mere  presentation  of  a  different  symbol  to  rep- 
resent a  natural  phenomenon  does  not  change  the  fun- 
damental fact,  and  the  more  universally  this  simple  fact 
becomes  known,  the  more  difficult  it  will  be  for  per- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  73 

sons  who  know  it,  to  hide  it  from  each  other.  A  per- 
son may  be  a  perfect  reservoir  of  literal  knowledge 
and  as  sincere  as  the  innocent  child,  but  he  is  just  as 
much  unborn  in  the  absence  of  experience  as  before 
he  first  saw  the  light  of  day.  It  is  the  person  who 
knows  he  is  withholding  the  actual  relation  of  literal 
knowledge  to  the  spiritual  that  tries  to  manipulate 
ideals  to  justify  his  theory  that  a  particular  quantity 
of  literal  precepts  entitles  him  to  a  social  predomi- 
nance. It  is  the  tentative  persistency  of  educators  in 
teaching  idealism  that  needs  attention  if  a  person  is 
sincere  when  he  professes  benevolence  toward  hu- 
manity. 

The  pagan  dirt  will  be  washed  out  of  literature 
when  the  popular  educator  has  courage  enough  to 
acknowledge  the  Scriptures  as  the  standard  of  moral 
ethics.  The  compromising  with  a  fraud  is  always  to 
the  advantage  of  the  fraud.  This  persistent  clinging 
to  pagan  literature  and  eulogizing  the  ancient 
heathens  by  giving  them  credit  for  introducing 
"knowledge"  to  the  human  race  is  practically  what 
they  egotistically  claimed  for  themselves  in  contradic- 
tion of  the  spiritual  revelation  that  makes  the  Bible  the 
most  remarkable  literary  production  ever  printed,  be- 
sides, its  simplicity  makes  it  possible  for  children  to 
read  it.  Its  pagan  rendering  and  political  manipula- 
tion are  better  proofs  of  its  spiritual  character,  for  it 
has  always  defied  the  greatest  secular  scholars  to 
couteract  its  simple  influence. 

The  word  "ideal"  is  a  synonym  of  sorcery,  dream, 
imagery,  inspiration,  consciousness,  etc.  The  most 
important  word  that  embraces  the  whole  is  "thought" 
— to  think — that  these  simple  facts  are  not  taught  to 


74  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

children  in  the  early  age  of  adolescence  is  for  the  rea- 
son that  even  modern  educators  insist  upon  the  im- 
portance of  "breaking  the  will"  before  ideal  "mys- 
teries" in  literal  verbiage  are  taught  to  them.  There 
is  much  less  probability  of  children  exercising  their 
own  God-given  privilege  by  thinking  or  daring  to 
think  their  own  thoughts  out  loud,  if  the  will  is  thor- 
oughly "broken  in  the  cradle."  That  some  do  grow 
to  adult  age  and  escape  the  cemetery  or  passive  to  a 
finish  is  entirely  due  to  the  generosity  of  the  Creator 
in  keeping  the  earth  so  well  supplied  with  humanity. 

It  need  not  cost  a  cent  for  any  person  endowed 
with  spiritual  life  enough  to  sense  their  own  presence 
to  also  know  they  were  in  possession  of  an  ideal  fact. 
The  ability  to  compare  ideals  or  the  imagery  en- 
grossed upon  the  organic  brain,  technically  termed 
"the  mind"  is  a  distinct  affair  from  the  mere  concep- 
tion of  imagery.  The  most  important  feature  is  the 
conceited  presumption  of  one  person  pretending  to  be- 
stow ideals  to  another  or  to  take  compensation  for 
pretending  to  teach  another  person  what  he  already 
possessed  free  of  cost. 

Demonology  is  the  science  of  sorcery — divination, 
augury,  etc.  Although  at  the  present  time  it  is  treated 
as  past  folly,  its  relative  bearing  upon  the  existing  ed- 
ucational and  social  situation  is  worth  considering  at 
least.  It  was  idealism,  even  if  the  modern  word  had 
not  been  coined.  The  point  is,  sorcery  was  the  wisdom 
of  the  age  and  derived  from  the  imagery  of  the  mind 
— thought — a  natural  phenomenon  common  to  the 
whole  human  race.  The  unity  of  humanity,  from  a 
spiritual  standpoint,  is  thoroughly  demonstrated  in 
history  which  shows  that  the  lowest  aboriginal  race 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  75 

of  whatever  color,  had  the  same  ideal  conception  of 
thought,  and  that  such  thought  constitutes  the  in- 
trinsic character  of  knowledge  that  gave  the  human 
race  its  progressive  prominence  over  animals.  It  is 
an  interesting  study  from  the  past  events  to  observe 
that  what  is  common  to  a  child  is  equally  so  to  the 
entire  human  race.  That  is,  the  phenomenon  of  birth 
and  natural  knowledge  has  not  changed  a  fraction 
from  the  earliest  recorded  period;  it  follows,  however, 
that  religion  and  education  are  a  mere  synthesis  of 
words,  both  words  being  embraced  in  the  original 
conception  that  sorcery  presented  to  the  ideal  faculty, 
that  every  birth  gives  evidence  of. 

The  cardinal  principle  of  literal  education  was  the 
evident  inception  of  sorcery.  It  could  hardly  be  be- 
lieved that  the  early  divinity  were  sincere  in  their  pre- 
tended power  to  make  it  rain  in  exchange  for  a  certain 
portion  of  the  product  of  the  husbandman  (primitive 
taxation).  From  the  fact  that  tiie  science  of  alchemy 
— modern  chemistry — was  kept  a  profound  secret 
greatly  to  the  profit  of  sorcery  in  working  magical 
art,  it  would  appear  reasonable  that  in  addition  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  sorcerer,  he  also  knew  he  was  obtaining 
money  under  false  pretences.  That  is  the  most  im- 
portant feature  to  observe,  when  the  relation  of  ancient 
education  is  compared  with  that  of  the  present. 

When  literal  education  became  commercially  profit- 
able the  secrets  of  the  earlier  auguries  were  exposed  by 
the  discursions  of  the  Greek  scholars.  It  was  practi- 
cally the  commencement  of  a  more  general  distribu- 
tion of  literal  knowledge,  but  the  relation  of  state- 
craft to  anything  educational  and  the  greed  of  the 
sophists  would  not  permit  of  any  economy  in  methods: 


y(>  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

To  the  contrary,  however,  terminology,  dialetics,  and 
esthetics  were  cultivated  to  the  extreme  to  confine 
"knowledge,"  so  termed,  to  the  rich  and  the  patron- 
age of  the  state.  The  honesty  of  Socrates  in  breath- 
ing democratic  sentiments  cost  him  his  life,  and  added 
to  the  skill  of  Aristotle  in  coining  words  to  bring 
his  logic  to  the  conclusion  he  desired,  there  was  no 
more  sincerity  in  trying  to  improve  humanity  than 
what  the  earlier  sorceress  betrayed. 

Aristotle  was  frank  enough  to  admit  that  he  had 
discovered  all  the  knowledge  there  was,  and  as  he  was 
engaged  more  in  keeping  literal  methods  as  exclusive 
as  possible,  he  doubtless  would  not  have  given  much 
attention  if  some  obscure  mortal  in  his  time  had  dared 
to  tell  him  that  he  had  no  different  spiritual  knowledge 
than  what  was  born  to  a  babe.  He  undoubtedly  knew 
more  about  it  than  what  he  felt  would  be  safe  since 
Socrates  was  poisoned  for  knowing  too  much  out  loud. 
He  displayed  the  wisdom  of  the  sorcerer  by  hiding 
any  ideal  thoughts  that  would  have  betrayed  pagan 
mythology.  The  effort  to  keep  the  common  laborers 
and  slaves  ignorant  of  the  equal  title  to  a  common 
privilege  to  spiritual  endowment,  suggests  the  suspi- 
cion that  Aristotle  knew  even  more  than  he  had  the 
courage  to  admit. 

The  "breaking  of  the  will,"  which  makes  the  dis- 
respect for  natural  religion  and  natural  education  a 
necessity, — it  is  analogous  to  the  early  sorcerers  killing 
infants  because  they  were  born  at  some  inopportune 
period.  This  authority  was  assumed  to  be  derived 
from  some  mysterious  oracle.  The  fact  that  magic 
stupefied  the  ignorant  was  pretty  good  proof  that  the 
sorcerer,  dreamer,  and  prophet  knew  enough  to  know 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  'J'J 

they  were  impostors.  Now  the  most  remarkable 
magic  is  to  obtain  such  a  mastery  over  another  as  to 
make  him  content  to  serve  at  command,  without  being 
considered  a  party  to  the  contract.  There  would  have 
been  no  need  of  sorcerers  if  they  had  been  willing  to 
teach  the  trick  to  the  multitude.  That  it  was  all  ideal 
play  was  conclusive  when  the  secret  methods  were 
exposed. 

Now  the  present  educational  magicians  have  the 
same  propensity  for  taking  offence  as  the  old  school 
sorcerers  had,  and  it  looks  reasonable  that  the  same 
selfish  purpose  prompts  the  action.  Of  course  a  per- 
son not  having  such  a  selfish  motive  would  not  coun- 
tenance a  text  book  in  the  "free  schools"  that  justified 
the  ''breaking  of  the  infant's  will  in  the  cradle,"  be- 
cause it  would  be  parallel  to  the  killing  of  infants  in 
the  old  days  so  far  as  the  disrespect  for  the  Creator 
is  concerned.  It  would  appear  more  cruel,  however, 
to  half  kill  an  infant  than  to  put  it  away  entirely.  It 
would  appear  from  the  trend  of  educational  writers 
that  obedience  to  "superiors,"  a  term  derived  from  its 
prototype — sorcerer — was  for  the  same  purpose  servile 
obedience,  toward  which  the  "breaking  of  the  will" 
would  be  the  first  operation.  The  sentimental  pre- 
tence of  benefiting  the  child  by  teaching  it  servile 
obedience  is  slightly  colored,  for  from  observation,  the 
modern  sorcerers  are  not  any  more  self-sacrificing  than 
the  ancients  were.  Besides  if  a  child  should  be  grateful 
for  having  its  "will  broken  in  the  cradle,"  it  could  con- 
sole itself  that  it  would  never  grow  up  to  be  a  modern 
sorcerer. 

The  individual  character  of  thought  is  as  strictly 
personal  property  as  the  privilege  to  breathe.     "Lib- 


78  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

erty  is  not  license,"  because  license  relates  to  temporal 
and  material  affairs  pertaining  to  the  authority  of  man 
as  organized  for  social  protection  and  a  communion  of 
interests,  while  liberty  is  bestowed  upon  the  individual 
with  the  breath  of  life  or  touch  of  Spirit,  which  is  all 
any  person  has  to  depend  upon. 

Because  material  organs  can  be  manipulated  by  the 
external  influences  of  man  acting  commercially,  is  one 
of  the  most  universal  features  of  humanity,  it  was 
prompted  by  the  ideal  thoughts  of  the  ancients  and 
continued  to  the  present  day.  It  is  not  what  education 
should  be  that  is  the  present  problem  to  solve,  but  in- 
stead, what  it  should  not  be,  for  only  for  the  natural 
love  of  the  parent  to  protect  its  offspring,  it  is  as  math- 
ematics that  commercial  greed  would  have  incited 
mankind  to  enslave  each  other  until  the  last  man,  like 
the  first,  could  have  had  a  paradise  of  earth  all  to  him- 
self. It  is  as  amusing  as  the  remark  of  Cato  when  he 
wondered  how  two  magicians  (ancient  educators) 
could  meet  each  other  without  laughing,  as  to  con- 
sider how  concerned  the  pharmacist  might  be  for  fear 
the  earth  would  cease  to  bear  patrons  for  his  art.  That 
one  race  is  superseded  by  another  by  the  rule  of  "the 
survival  of  the  fittest"  is  also  due  to  education  in  its 
broad  sense,  but  the  abstract  kind,  to  satisfy  commer- 
cial greed  and  a  life  of  luxury  and  leisure,  is  not  the 
"fittest"  if  history  can  be  believed.  The  literal  is 
idealism,  the  picture  of  a  fact,  in  commercial  convey- 
ance, sold  for  a  fact,  and  taught  to  be  a  fact  by  modern 
sorcerers ;  in  fact,  it  is  material  imagination — it  is  the 
fundamental  principle  of  paganism."  The  spiritual  is 
Christianity — the  natural,  all  the  knowledge  there  is, 
from  which  the  literal  and  ideal    is    abstracted    and 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  79 

taught  second  hand  to  be  more  brilliant  than  the  real, 
also  to  transcend  the  natural.  To  worship  the  ideal 
is  to  choose  slavery  instead  of  freedom — material  dis- 
appointment instead  of  spiritual  happiness.  Whether 
rich  or  poor,  all  must  "earn  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brow,"  and  it  can  be  proved  by  experience  that  spirit- 
ual sweat  cannot  be  overcome  by  sorcery. 

The  most  cruel  circumstance  connected  with  mod- 
ernism in  continuing  to  flirt  with  ancientism  is  the 
sacrifice  of  innocent  children  in  pretending  to  extract 
one  demon  by  beating  two  into  it.  To  take  advantage 
of  the  weakest  and  purest  part  of  humanity,  or  even 
the  innocents  of  literal  ignorance,  is  a  crime  that  .no 
civil  crimes  compare;  and  to  justify  the  crime,  the  art 
of  sorcery  is  embraced  under  a  different  name  to  treat 
the  natural  separate  from  the  spiritual,  in  like  manner 
to  the  synthesis  of  words  expressing  religion  and  edu- 
cation. The  educator,  innocent  of  this  fact,  is  to  be 
pitied  rather  than  blamed,  for  his  will  was  doubtless 
"broken"  in  childhood ;  but  the  man  who  knows  it  and 
lacks  the  courage  to  admit  it,  cannot  hide  the  fact 
from  the  Almighty  at  least,  that  he  is  a  modern  Phari- 
see. 


8o  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER   X. 


TF  the  future  could  be  penetrated  even  for  a  few  min- 
-''  utes,  the  commercial  traffic  in  mysticism  would 
have  no  market.  It  is  the  very  fact  that  men  have  no 
knowledge  of  what  they  pretend  to  know,  when  the 
principle  of  didactics  is  adopted  as  a  means  of  obtain- 
ing the  necessities  of  life.  Mythology  became  useless 
as  civilization  advanced  simply  because  it  became  so 
common.  That  is,  the  business  is  overdone  and  the 
supply  of  myths  exceeded  the  demand,  hence  a  new 
principle  had  to  be  invented  to  amuse  the  common  peo- 
ple, for  parents  even  are  but  children  of  a  larger 
growth,  and  they  need  playthings  the  same  as  children, 
except  they  must  be  adapted  to  the  degree  of  intelli- 
gence that  a  person  was  fortunate  enough  to  possess. 

Wisdom  has  not  discovered  a  method  by  which  it 
could  command  its  own  birth,  but  it  can  put  new  labels 
on  out-of-date  goods  and  customers  might  be  found 
that  failed  to  notice  the  stroke  of  diplomacy.  There  is 
one  serious  difficulty  that  all  mystics  have  to  encoun- 
ter; civilization  is  a  growth  as  much  so  as  the  individ- 
ual, and  just  as  fast  as  old  playthings  cease  to  attract 
the  attention,  new  ones  must  be  forthcoming,  or  com- 
merce will  take  on  a  panic. 

The  real  fact  is  that  transcendentalism  and  myth- 
ology are  identical  principles,    a    mere    synthesis    of 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  8l 

words;  and  while  the  people  will  buy  "ideals"  freely, 
a  modern  didactic  would  be  laughed  at  if  he  should 
offer  a  "myth"  for  sale. 

The  difficulty  of  controlling  Nature  with  symbols, 
brass  bands  and  timbrels  to  drive  witches  and  evil 
spirits  away  is  getting  more  tense  as  the  multitude 
begin  to  learn  that  they  can  thrive  on  home-made 
music  at  much  less  expense  than  to  borrow  the  music 
of  others,  and  always  keep  a  little  behind  in  account, 
just  enough  to  keep  one's  will  well  broken  to  service. 

The  teacher  always  has  two  propositions  to  con- 
sider when  he  accepts  a  "calling"  for  a  living.  The  first 
is,  he  must  have  something  to  teach;  and  the  second  is, 
he  must  have  an  audience,  which  is  more  necessary 
than  what  he  has  to  teach,  otherwise  without  an  audi- 
ence a  teacher,  however  lively,  would  be  as  dead  as 
a  post.  If  the  end  in  view  was  more  important  to  the 
teacher  than  the  taught,  a  little  ideal  attraction  would 
be  as  necessary  as  for  a  child  to  fall  before  it  could 
possibly  rise  in  its  own  defence.  The  teacher  having 
employed  the  mystic  wand  of  having  a  mysterious 
notion  to  impart,  for  the  purpose  of  attention,  would 
continue  to  be  mysterious,  unless  he  was  trying  to 
teach  the  occupants  of  a  cemetery  not  to  worry  about 
the  condition  of  their  departed  souls. 

Natural  intelligence  would  appear  to  be  sufficient  to 
reveal  that  the  expectation  of  learning  some  more  was 
mysterious.  It  is  therefore  clear  that  nothing  but  a 
new  mystery  occasionally  will  successfully  teach  the 
people  to  forget  the  old  one  that  failed  to  materialize. 
It  is  remarkable  to  observe  the  partiality  of  a  fresh 
student  who  can  ridicule  all  the  old  mysteries,  and 
then  explain  with  equal  ability  how  it  was  entirely  due 


82  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

to  ignorance.  The  modern  prophet  will  also  become 
pathetic  in  parading  the  self-sacrificing  virtues  of  ef- 
forts that  had  succeeded  at  last  in  clearing  the  atmos- 
phere of  disputes  about  mysteries.  It  appears  to  be 
the  general  opinion  of  educators  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  state  to  break  the  wills  of  children  when  they  can 
be  taught  obedience  to  the  wills  of  others.  The  trou- 
ble with  this  system  is,  the  very  effort  to  break  the 
will  and  train  the  child  to  accept  whatever  convictions 
the  educators  can  agree  upon,  really  so  enlightens  the 
intended  victims  that  they  slowly  learn  to  handle  mys- 
teries without  assistance. 

If  modern  wisdom  is  really  sincere  in  proclaiming 
its  mastery  of  the  ancient  mysteries  and  ability  to  cope 
with  the  present,  it  would  be  interesting  to  have  it 
explained  what  educators  mean  by  promising  so  much 
peace  and  harmony  when  they  often  expose  themselves 
in  discussion  to  the  weak  intelligence  of  even  a  child. 
That  is,  if  two  educators  cannot  agree  in  the  method 
of  breaking  the  child's  will,  it  would  appear  that  ex- 
perience would  be  a  factor  in  modern  mysticism 
(transcendentalism)  and  a  good  many  children  may 
object  individually  to  having  their  wills  broken.  Par- 
ents even  can  grow  as  wise  as  their  bachelor  and  spin- 
ster advisers,  and  fight,  even,  if  necessary,  to  protect 
the  God-given  wills  of  their  children.  Even  if  grum- 
blers call  it  brute  instinct,  the  fact  that  they  grumble 
is  evidence  that  God's  government  cannot  be  tran- 
scended any  more  successfully  at  the  present  time  than 
in  the  past. 

The  present  esoteric  method  in  imitation  of  the  pa- 
gans has  not  the  same  state  protection,  and  if  educa- 
tors have  half  the  knowledge  they  appear  to  have,  it 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  83 

would  be  strange  indeed  if  all  of  them  persisted  in 
believing,  or  pretending  to  believe,  that  the  masses  can 
be  taught  literal  knowledge  (the  experience  of  others) 
and  also  be  persuaded  not  to  think  out  loud.  The 
most  important  mystery  at  the  present  time  is  to  deter- 
mine how  the  pyramid  of  knowledge  can  be  controlled 
from  the  top  when  the  parents  refuse  to  have  the  wills 
of  their  children  broken  sufficiently  to  form  a  safe 
base  for  said  pyramid  of  knowledge  to  rest  upon. 

There  seems  to  be  a  united  purpose  in  the  general 
trend  of  all  educators  and  teachers  of  every  character 
in  carefully  evading  the  spiritual  example  of  Christ, 
so  entirely  void  of  mystery  except  for  the  esoteric  ef- 
forts of  interpreters.  The  perfect  spiritual  equality  of 
the  human  race  is  the  very  essence  of  the  Scriptures. 
It  teaches  distinctly  that  what  is  mystery  to  the  parent 
is  spiritually  revealed  to  the  child.  It  is  this  essential 
fact  that  educators  refuse  to  admit  while  they  are  con- 
tending over  mysteries  that  must  be  explained  to  chil- 
dren for  fear  they  will  grow  up  in  ignorance  of  what 
God  provides  free,  before  the  literal  teacher  can  get  in 
his  second-hand  work.  The  communion  of  spirit  and 
the  sacredness  of  personality  carefully  studied  without 
bias  would  throw  more  light  upon  mysteries  than  all 
the  mythologies  that  were  ever  concocted.  For  ex- 
ample :  There  is  no  mystery  in  what  the  sense  reveals 
to  the  individual  child  until  experience  discloses  the 
imagery  that  the  mental  organs  reflect  upon  the  brain 
by  the  spiritual  light  common  to  all  who  know  enough 
to  deny  it.  It  requires  esoteric  literature  poured  into 
the  ears  of  the  child  in  immense  quantity  before  the 
child  can  be  "broken"  to  the  belief  that  what  the  im- 
agery of  the  mind  conveys  to  the  brain  literally,  tran- 


84  THE    ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

scends  the  experience  spiritually,  conveyed  to  the 
brain.  This  principle  is  so  strictly  individual  that 
all  esoteric  teachers  know  it,  who  betray  themselves 
by  the  choice  of  esoteric  words  in  place  of  exoteric 
words.  That  is,  the  effort  to  conserve  mystery  is  far 
greater  than  the  effort  to  expose  it,  because  there  is  a 
material  danger  that  the  alternate  character  of  the 
will  has  to  consider. 

The  literal  training  or  "breaking"  of  the  will  is  really 
identical.  But  that  God  never  forsakes  the  child  spir- 
itually makes  it  extremely  precarious  when  a  sure  de- 
pendence is  placed  upon  the  will  of  another,  for  Christ 
taught  the  possibility  of  being  "born  again"  as  long 
as  the  spirit  lingered  with  the  material  body.  It  is 
about  the  limit  of  man's  effort  to  establish  literal  tran- 
scendentalism, for  it  is  like  trying  to  put  a  fire  out  and 
neglecting  the  sparks  that  are  left  behind,  as  to  claim 
a  literal  title  to  a  child's  will  while  the  child  is  in 
possession  of  its  spiritual  title.  It  is  a  misfortune  in 
this  enlightened  age  that  a  man  will  profess  philan- 
thropy in  precepts  and  then  betray  his  insincerity  to 
his  audience  by  expressing  indignity  if  his  orthodox 
conviction  is  being  exposed.  It  is  parallel  to  the  anger 
of  ancient  idolators  if  the  divinity  of  their  pet  idols  was 
even  questioned,  and  only  from  war  and  conquest 
could  the  delusion  be  stamped  out.  It  is  an  imposition 
that  reflects  upon  the  more  enlightened  intelligence  of 
the  present  age  to  defend  transcendentalism  which  is 
only  another  word  for  idolatry. 

That  this  imposition  upon  natural  intelligence  is  des- 
tined to  the  same  fate  as  its  predecessors,  unless  the 
elasticity  of  reform  which  needs  no  other  prophecy 
than  the  history  of  the  past  assists  Nature  in  her  per- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  85 

sistent  readjusting  of  the  continuity  of  evil,  without 
the  necessity  of  more  war.  The  most  vital  point  of 
defect  in  present  theories  is  the  clinging  to  the  pagan 
rendering  of  what  constitutes  the  meaning  of  such 
words  as  spirit,  soul,  mind  and  nature;  if  these  four 
words  were  reduced  to  one,  the  mysteries  of  the  past 
would  have  no  foundation  to  rest  upon,  besides  the  dis- 
putes over  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible  would  be 
reduced  in  like  proportion.  It  might  not  suit  the  self- 
satisfied  esoteric  man,  but  according  to  such  declara- 
tion as,  "the  good  and  true,"  one  should  not  cling  to 
his  own  personal  interest  (theoretically)  when  the 
welfare  of  the  many  is  sacrificed  thereby. 

The  four  symbols  named  could  be  embraced  in  either 
one,  and  there  would  be  no  place  for  transcendental- 
ism, which  could  be  laid  aside  in  like  manner  to  its 
predecessor — idolatry.  It  is  a  theory,  of  course,  but  it 
would  be  more  economical  to  have  only  one  word  to 
express  the  same  fundamental  principle.  It  would  be 
too  exhaustive  to  call  attention  to  objection  that  could 
be  offered  against  such  a  simple  reform  of  theories. 
The  point  is,  that  some  mysterious  purpose  is  hidden 
from  the  common  penetration,  when  four  words  are 
used  to  represent  what  all  schools  of  philosophy  are 
agreed  upon  as  phenomena.  In  the  absence  of  spirit 
all  else  is  material  or  dead  matter.  The  doctrine  of 
Biogenesis  explodes  theories  that  suggest  a  panic.  It 
practically  admits  the  touch  of  spirit  to  be  confined  to 
its  self-revealing  character  or  the  individual  conscious- 
ness of  existence  independent  of  what  psychologists 
try  to  explain  in  defence  of  didactic  principles.  That 
Is,  if  experience  derived  from  the  touch  of  spirit,  which 
experience  itself  determines,  it  would  transform  the 


86  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

earth  into  a  heaven  at  once,  but  experience  is  not  uni- 
form and  there  are  organic  difficulties  that  the  spirit 
only  reveals  to  the  faculty  of  sensation  in  different  de- 
grees of  experience  to  supply  abstract  theology  with 
plenty  of  speculation  for  a  foundation.  An  economy 
of  mystery  will  encourage  people  to  have  more  confi- 
dence in  their  own  thoughts.  The  privilege  to  think 
without  being  compelled  to  pay  another  to  think  for 
us,  embraces  all  the  mystery  that  humanity  can  study. 
The  effort  to  clothe  the  mind  and  soul  with  material 
garments  was  the  pretension  of  the  pagans  who  were 
conceited  enough  in  their  own  literal  garment  to  at- 
tempt to  obtain  followers  by  teaching  them  to  believe 
it,  and  those  who  think  at  the  present  that  they  can 
catch  up  with  the  mysterious  would  put  in  their  time 
cultivating  faith  in  a  power  that  the  pagans  could  not 
capture.  Besides,  if  reason,  which  is  the  boast  of  the 
present  scholastic  age,  was  employed,  it  would  reveal 
to  experience  that  the  difference  between  spirit  and 
the  effort  to  catch  one,  is  just  as  distant  as  it  ever  was. 
Yet  strange  to  say,  which  might  appear  in  contra- 
diction to  literal  authority,  and  not  be  any  farther 
from  the  fact,  than  an  effort  to  overtake  mystery,  that 
the  touch  of  spirit  reveals  to  experience  the  very  mys- 
tery that  the  entire  human  race  are  running  after. 
What  the  spirit  reveals  is  as  a  light  to  darkness,  for 
example :  Material  organs  are  just  as  dead  as  the  mat- 
ter they  are  composed  of,  their  attributes  may  be  nu- 
merous but  while  they  exist  in  the  dark,  spirit  will 
light  up  the  situation  when  the  organs  discover  them- 
selves to  be  in  correspondence  with  each  other  in  ac- 
cord with  experience  or  consciousness.  It  is  there- 
fore no  mystery  to  a  child  that  falls  out  of  bed,  for 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  87 

experience,  practically  knowledge,  becomes  a  revealed 
fact,  and  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  experience  of  a 
fact,  but  what  is  a  mystery  is  to  observe  a  man  trying 
to  teach  a  stone  to  roll  up  hill  because  it  is  just  as 
reasonable  for  it  to  roll  up  as  down  when  the  reason 
cannot  explain  why  it  rolls  down.  Experience  being 
strictly  confined  to  the  individual  its  relation  with 
spirit  is  not  transferable,  but  instead  it  is  a  confiden- 
tial co-partnership  that  the  Governor  of  all  things  in- 
sists upon.  Man  can  transfer  the  imagery  (thought) 
of  experience,  and  experience  itself  teaches  it  to  be 
the  limit.  A  doctor  can  claim  that  his  literal  ascend- 
ency by  reason  of  a  greater  possession  of  imagery, 
gives  him  a  moral  right  to  deceive  a  patient  when 
from  his  own  opinion  it  would  be  for  the  patient's  wel- 
fare, but  to  admit  that  the  patient  had  an  equal  right 
to  deceive  the  doctor,  presents  the  exact  distance  be- 
tween a  fact  and  transcendentalism. 


88  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XL 


FREEDOM. 


'pHERE  are  two  remarkable  divisions  of  humanity 
-*■  that  are  involved  in  the  principle  of  freedom.  Sub- 
divisions also  are  so  numerous  that  they  reach  to  the 
individual  unit.  To  say  there  were  two  publics  might 
answer  for  a  doctrine  or  speculation,  but  when  a  sim- 
of  knowledge  must  be  denied,  for  if  the  indirect  con- 
proved  pet ;  besides  it  would  prove  that  the  emancipation 
hypothesis,  the  conclusion  must  necessarily  be  the  same 
and  its  opposite,  slavery,  constitute  all  that  human 
pie  fact  is  the  end  in  view,  it  is  well  to  keep  in  touch 
with  what  one  can  determine  by  experience  to  be  uni- 
versal spirit.  With  such  a  spiritual  revelation  that  in- 
dividual experience  only  can  comprehend,  it  suggests 
the  thought  that  any  division  of  humanity  is  material 
rather  than  spiritual.  If  doctrines  were  being  consid- 
ered, spirit  could  be  divided  and  subdivided  by  the 
ideal  faculty  of  the  brain  that  experience  suggests  as 
the  common  property  of  all. 

Experience  is  also  authority  for  the  assertion  that 
the  touch  of  spirit  is  knowledge  in  its  true  or  spiritual 
sense  of  the  word.  Thus  whatever  material  division 
exists  as  a  mere  tentative  speculation  even,  its  influ- 
ence upon  the  cardinal  principle  of  freedom  could  in 
kindness  be  considered  at  least.  If  a  person  has  culti- 
vated rigidity  to  the  extent  of  Aristotle  of  whom  it  is 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  89 

recorded  that  he  declared  himself  he  had  discovered 
all  there  was  to  know,  it  would  be  almost  needless  to 
caution  such  a  person  that  the  principle  of  freedom 
did  not  concern  him  at  all. 

For  present  purposes  it  could  be  considered  that 
humanity  is  divided  materially  rather  than  intellectually, 
for  if  knowledge  is  the  touch  of  spirit,  it  follows  that 
whatever  is  literal  belongs  in  the  material  class.  To 
observe  carefully  this  seeming  incongruity  that  a  good 
many  have  been  taught  to  believe  differently,  the  spirit 
of  knowledge  must  be  deemed,  for  if  the  indirect  con- 
veyance of  knowledge  adds  to  its  virtue  in  consequence 
of  any  specific  method  of  conveyance,  it  has  not  been 
proved  yet,  besides  it  would  prove  that  the  emancipation 
of  the  slave  was  an  act  of  injustice.  That  is,  if  a  ma- 
terial division  only  is  admitted  as  a  mere  theoretical 
hypothesis,  the  conclusionmust  necessarily  be  the  same 
as  if  it  was  endorsed  by  spiritual  sanction.  To  be  a  little 
better  understood  perhaps:  When  a  person  or  organiz- 
ation assumes  authority  and  commands  obedience,  it  is 
the  natural  and  spiritual  right  of  the  lowest  specimen  of 
humanity  to  demand  credentials. 

There  is  no  point  in  the  consideration  of  freedom 
more  important  that  to  treat  spiritual  freedom  sepa- 
rate from  material  freedom.  If  a  materialist  should 
refuse  to  even  consider  any  division  of  spirit  and  mat- 
ter, he  could  not  hide  his  inconsistency  from  others, 
even  if  he  had  hidden  it  successfully  from  his  own 
thoughts.  No  slave  was  ever  held  to  involuntary  ser- 
vice that  was  so  completely  enslaved  as  a  person  who 
sacrifices  his  own  freedom  by  choosing  literal  author- 
ity in  opposition  to  his  spiritual  experience.  The 
temptation  being  material  reward  that  never  material- 


90  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

izes  in  the  absence  of  spirit  which  enters  into  no  com- 
promise with  fraud  or  immorality.  No  person  can  be 
deprived  of  a  spiritual  freedom,  but  material  freedom 
and  its  opposite,  slavery,  constitutes  all  that  human 
intelligence  has  to  maintain  commercial  activity. 
Christ  taught  the  impossibility  of  introducing  any 
commercial  traffic  in  the  realm  of  spirit,  and  all  kinds 
of  philosophy  and  theories  have  been  indulged  in  to 
discover  some  material  entrance  into  God's  private 
affairs.  Even  literal  authority  that  recognizes  the 
Bible  forbids  any  material  entrance  into  spiritual  so- 
ciety. 

Experience  is  not  concerned  in  doctrines  or  theories, 
and  even  science  is  more  a  subordinate  than  a  com- 
manding presence.  It  is  derived  from  the  touch  of 
spirit  and  even  the  Educator  cannot  disguise  his  de- 
pendence upon  the  same  principle,  however  he  may 
fortify  himself  in  esoteric  parlance  and  cultivated 
irony,  his  spiritual  dependence  levels  him  to  the  same 
authority.  The  master  is  as  often  the  slave  as  those 
he  can  command  or  compel  to  follow  him.  While  any 
influence  is  educational  even  a  literal  testimony  of  an 
experience  depends  upon  relative  comparison,  and  to 
go  beyond  that  principle  pagan  philosophy  must  be 
embraced.  When  literal  science  was  in  its  infancy 
and  confined  to  a  few  persons  it  was  comparatively 
simple  for  so  few  to  apotheosize  themselves  and  de- 
mand servile  obedience  from  the  great  mass  of  de- 
fenceless humanity.  It  was  a  delusion,  however,  that 
a  thinking  man  of  the  present  could  easily  avoid  if  he 
had  the  courage  to  admit  it,  for  spiritual  freedom  has 
to  be  earned  as  well  as  food  to  sustain  material  free- 
dom.    Spiritual  education  was  not  denied  to  the  an- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  QI 

cient  slave  by  his  Creator  when  the  utmost  effort  was 
exerted  to  preserve  the  mass  of  humanity  in  ignorance 
of  literal  science  (not  knowledge  as  the  esoteric  schol- 
ars tried  to  make  each  other  believe)  for  the  teaching 
of  knowledge  as  spiritually  revealed  to  individual  ex- 
perience, appears  to  have  been  reserved  for  fear  the 
human  race  would  become  so  vain  of  their  freedom 
that  the  petition  of  children  even  would  not  have  suf- 
ficed  to  spare  the  human  family  from  destruction. 

The  greed  for  material  acquirements,  including  the 
literal,  is  no  less  attractive  at  the  present  time  than 
when  Aristotle  proclaimed  that  "slavery  was  a  natural 
necessity."  But  the  great  question  now  for  modern 
educators  to  consider  is  whether  the  esoteric  master 
is  not  the  slave  in  fact,  when  he  must  exhaust  his  lit- 
erary talent  to  convince  the  serving  man  against  his 
experience,  which  teaches  freedom  from  a  higher 
power.  If  it  is  natural  to  serve  and  also  a  moral  duty, 
it  is  certainly  unnatural  to  be  willing,  which  supplies 
a  reason  for  breaking  the  will  of  children  before  they 
learn  of  their  free  spiritual  birth.  Surely  the  person 
who  can  encompass  the  entire  field  of  ancient  learn- 
ing, cannot  enjoy  the  freedom  that  was  born  to  him 
if  he  lacks  the  courage  to  proclaim  publicly  what  he 
knows  to  be  a  fact.  It  is  no  rare  circumstance  to  hear 
prominent  educators  declare  that  what  is  needed  to 
correct  present  evils  is  to  send  better  men  to  the  Legis- 
lature. What  made  them  so  bad  as  not  to  represent 
the  situation  faithfully?  They  were  all  educated  by 
modern  methods,  hence  where  but  in  the  cradle  can 
better  men  be  found  to  send  to  the  Legislature?  It 
would  be  necessary  to  send  them  before  their  "wills 
were  thoroughly  broken"  to  modernism  or  they  would 
be  unfit  to  improve  the  situation. 


92  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

It  is  not  the  fault  of  education,  which  is  as  natural  as 
freedom,  it  is  the  kind  of  education  that  Legislatures 
are  administering  at  the  command  of  commercial 
greed.  Systems  of  educations  have  always  been  care- 
fully guarded  upon  the  principle  of  freedom  that  the 
most  despotic  rules  are  religiously  taught  to  contend 
against  what  can  only  be  learned  from  natural  free- 
dom. There  is  no  better  evidence  of  human  reason 
than  the  fact  of  its  denying  the  petition  of  children 
which  is  the  very  spiritual  "voice"  of  God.  The  word 
"reason"  is  often  employed  in  an  antithesis  character, 
which  would  doubtless  deceive  the  illiterate;  it  shows 
a  reason  for  defying  the  voice  of  God  in  the  child's 
petition  by  manufacturing  a  reason  that  the  child  is 
too  weak  to  contend  against,  but  the  very  reason  in 
defence  of  material  authority  proves  distinctly  that 
the  spiritual  reason  is  well  known  to  any  person  who 
would  use  his  physical  or  intelligent  strength  to  crush 
the  natural  freedom  of  a  child. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  discuss  literal  authority 
or  established  canon  law  in  the  abstract,  for  the  eso- 
teric learned  are  fully  competent  to  destroy  each  other 
in  this  enlightened  age  since  the  freedom  of  reason  is 
not  frightened  at  the  mere  conflict  of  words,  and  even 
bayonets  have  become  powerless  to  cope  with  the 
spirit  of  freedom  in  conflict  with  material  greed.  A 
dogma  will  have  the  same  meaning  called  by  another 
name,  for  Christianity  will  never  wear  pagan  labels 
gracefully.  The  great  question  before  the  entire 
world  is  to  determine  what  relation  children  bear  to 
posterity,  whether  their  spiritual  petition  is  to  be  rec- 
ognized or  whether  they  will  continue  to  be  trained  to 
support  warring  factions  of  materialism. 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  93 

The  great  mass  of  humanity  can  wait  with  far 
greater  happiness  than  the  dominant  class,  for  at  no 
period  of  the  world's  history  was  the  slave  ever  com- 
pelled to  bear  the  material  suffering  that  his  master 
could  not  escape  from.  Even  the  oratory  of  Cicero 
was  powerless  to  save  Rome  from  starving  to  death 
when  the  non-producer  of  food  became  so  numerous 
that  the  producer  could  not  support  himself  and  mas- 
ter both.  It  was  the  master  therefore  that  starved,  for 
the  slave  learned  from  the  example  of  his  master  that 
self-preservation  was  his  first  duty,  thus  the  slave  and 
literal  records  of  the  event  survived  the  demise  of 
the  master.  It  would  appear  in  defense  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  reason  that  the  dominant  portion  of  humanity 
would  save  themselves,  in  face  of  the  petition  of  chil- 
dren, and  the  warnings  of  history,  against  following 
pagan  prerogatives. 

That  it  is  more  dangerous  to  rise  than  to  fall  is  the 
privilege  of  the  individual  to  determine.  It  is  equally 
certain  that  neither  event  could  occur  in  the  absence 
of  space  to  move  in.  The  point  is,  freedom  was  dem- 
onstrated in  both  cases,  and  if  it  occurs  from  the  obe- 
dience to  natural  law  or  the  touch  of  spirit,  it  is  free- 
dom per  se,  but  when  the  material  influence  of  another 
person  is  involved,  slavery  in  some  form  is  the  result. 
There  could  be  no  freedom  without  the  possibility  of 
slavery.  Thus  the  child  is  permitted  to  fall  per  se  that 
it  might  rise  in  knowledge;  to  force  it  to  fall  for  the 
same  object  would  be  analogous  to  the  present  system 
of  education,  and  therefore  a  form  of  slavery. 

A  strict  orthodox  could  not  be  such  if  the  opinion 
of  another  was  even  listened  to  that  disagreed  with  his 
own  rendering.     Such  perfect  freedom  is  rarely  ob- 


94  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

tained  in  the  necessary  activities  of  life,  but  such  free- 
dom presents  a  type  of  character  that  reflects  the  pos- 
sibility of  abstract  education  forcing  a  person  either 
up  or  down  to  a  passive  condition,  when  to  rise  or 
fall  in  knowledge  might  be  possible,  but  very  improb- 
able. There  is  more  virtue  in  ignorance  as  the  work 
of  the  Creator,  than  what  is  possible  for  intelligence, 
when  the  gift  is  abused  to  crush  or  oppress  what  he 
might  choose  to  call  an  inferior.  It  could  be  called 
one  form  of  freedom,  and  also  prove  that  freedom  and 
liberty  are  license,  or  else  an  intelligent  person  could 
not  fall  into  such  disgrace  any  more  than  a  child  could 
fall  if  it  remained  passive  on  the  ground. 

Literal  freedom  and  material  freedom  are  synthetic, 
but  spiritual  freedom  is  independent  of  any  material 
scheme  of  man.  The  touch  of  spirit  is  not  transfer- 
able by  any  material  conveyance  either  literal  or  other- 
wise. To  make  the  meaning  exact,  it  is  the  principle 
of  Biogenesis  that  only  from  the  touch  of  life  is  its 
continuity  possible.  The  effect  of  scientific  discovery 
upon  ideal  theology  is  literally  recorded  in  profusion, 
of  which  fact  public  libraries  bear  evidence.  Its  ef- 
fect upon  the  relation  of  individual  man  as  a  material 
being,  touched  with  life  by  universal  spirit,  has  not 
been  settled.  It  appears  to  be  beyond  the  realm  of 
science  even,  but  can  any  individual  sense  his  own  ex- 
istence and  deny  the  principle  of  concrete  freedom? 

The  freedom  of  petition  is  the  superlative  use  that 
freedom  can  be  applied  to.  It  proves  the  individual 
declaration  itself.  The  declaration  as  such  is  not  im- 
peachable in  presence  of  the  person  making  the  dec- 
laration. Whether  it  is  an  ideal  conception  or  a  sense 
perception,   the   entire   civil   judicatory   of  the  world 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  95 

could  not  control  the  freedom  of  spiritual  conception. 
What  is  termed  a  literal  truth  has  no  more  relation  to 
a  spiritual  truth  than  a  pile  of  sand  has  to  a  locomo- 
tive. It  is  like  a  cemetery  compared  to  a  village  in- 
habited with  active  beings.  The  effort  to  make  a  lit- 
eral truth  equal  to  a  spiritual  truth  has  kept  wisdom 
busy  since  literal  science  was  first  discovered,  and 
the  two  principles — Spirit  and  Matter — are  just  as  far 
apart  as  ever. 

Martyrs  become  saints  after  they  sacrifice  their  ma- 
terial flesh  in  defence  of  the  spiritual  freedom,  in  the 
absence  of  which  material  freedom  including  literal 
freedom  was  all  that  was  really  dead,  and  the  freedom 
of  remaining  unborn  in  a  material  sense,  does  not 
change  the  princple  of  freedom  after  the  touch  of 
spirit  reveals  the  fact  of  birth  to  the  individual  born. 
Wisdom  made  heroes  of  pirates  and  murderers,  at  the 
same  time  the  martyrs  were  being  crucified  in  the  pre- 
tence of  a  divine  right  to  employ  material  freedom 
in  the  vain  effort  to  overcome  spiritual  freedom.  Ob- 
jections and  counter  objections  can  be  indulged  in, 
but  the  very  fact  that  educators  barricade  their  exclu- 
siveness  by  cultivating  esoteric  phraseology  in  imi- 
tation of  the  pagans,  proves  their  efforts  to  be  lim- 
ited to  material  things.  Thus  if  reason  has  not  lost 
its  value  entirely,  from  what  standpoint  of  reasoning 
can  a  person  expect  that  the  esoteric  educator  of  the 
present  can  emulate  the  esoteric  wisdom  of  the  past 
and  escape  the  fate  of  their  predecessors? 


96  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XIL 


SLAVERY. 


INVOLUNTARY  subjection  to  the  will  of  another  is 
-*■  slavery;  it  is  therefore  possible  in  a  multitude  of 
forms,  it  exists  abstractly  or  concrete  as  the  case  may  be. 
Its  general  principle  presupposes  an  inhuman  condi- 
tion that  is  replaced  by  mere  animal  instinct.  In  pre- 
tense men  who  were  acknowledged  to  be  the  wisest 
of  the  age  reasoned  forward,  but  in  practice  they  rea- 
soned backward.  That  is,  when  personal  interests 
were  involved  reason  was  adapted  to  such  interest. 
It  would  appear  that  the  mental  faculty  of  man  could 
be  reversed,  but  the  delusion  cannot  be  disguised 
continually,  for  the  reason  acts  spiritually  or  literally 
as  the  will  directs.  An  end  desired  is  the  abstract 
form,  but  to  reason  from  concrete  facts  in  possession 
of  the  reasoner  the  end  is  often  as  much  a  surprise  as 
the  discovery  of  one's  own  birth. 

A  person  will  choose  literal  authority  if  it  serves 
his  immediate  interest  best,  but  when  a  sudden  emer- 
gency occurs  spiritual  authority  is  courted  with  the 
most  devout  denial  that  it  was  ever  abandoned.  A 
slave  can  only  be  such  when  he  is  cognizant  of  the 
fact  from  spiritual  conception.  It  is  doubtful  if  a 
person  could  be  convinced  by  any  literal  process  that 
he  was  serving  another's  will  if  his  weakness  of  un- 
derstanding presented  a  cheerful  contentment.     The 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  97 

ancients  were  prompt  in  appropriating  this  condition, 
when  literal  authority  was  apotheosized  to  meet  the 
end  desired.  Theories  could  be  made  by  order  of  a 
despotic  ruler  as  readily  as  he  could  command  a  ser- 
vant. 

When  education  was  considered  only  in  the  light  of 
religion,  whatever  despot  was  the  ruling  power,  it  was 
supposed  that  only  from  absolute  authority  could  the 
people  of  a  nation  be  governed;  they  were  all  prac- 
tically slaves,  and  only  from  specific  favor  of  the  King 
to  save  his  own  prestige,  could  any  one  be  elevated 
above  slavery.  If  the  most  abject  slave  obtained  fol- 
lowers sufficient  to  maintain  an  area  of  territory  and 
made  a  king,  it  was  considered  to  be  a  direct  interpo- 
sition of  God.  The  early  people  were  just  as  depend- 
ent upon  experience,  which  was  really  spiritual  knowl- 
edge, as  the  individual  is  upon  his  birth.  It  is  absurd 
at  this  late  day  to  continue  to  hold  that  knowledge 
was  only  bestowed  upon  a  favored  few,  to  be  literally 
transmitted  to  posterity. 

In  the  era  of  Alexander,  knowledge  was  just  as 
much  a  subject  of  slavery  as  the  person  itself;  it  was 
not  so  much  due  to  ignorace  or  what  is  often  termed 
barbarism,  as  it  was  to  the  natural  phenomenon  of 
fear.  The  bravado  which  was  common  among  the 
isolated  aborigines  had  descended  to  the  Alexander 
era.  It  was  very  simple  at  this  period  to  mistake  ro- 
mance for  history,  for  the  rage  was  for  the  most  im- 
probable story,  and  the  very  first  use  that  the  science 
of  letters  was  used  for,  was  to  compete  for  the  most 
fantastic  stories.  The  exercise  no  doubt  developed  the 
mental  faculties  and  encouraged  an  ambition  for  literal 
learning,  but  the  presence  of  slavery  disclosed  the  fact 


98  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

that  moral  principles  were  absent.  Pecuniary  profit 
and  the  patronage  of  a  bravado  ruler  were  the  chief  in- 
centives of  literal  education.  The  fountain  of  knowl- 
edge, however,  being  entirely  spiritual,  morality  would 
crop  out,  for  which  Socrates  sacrificed  his  life  in  de- 
fending. This  event  added  to  the  existence  of  slavery 
should  be  reason  enough  why  the  vagaries  of  the  an- 
cient scholars  should  be  discarded  in  a  Christian  age. 
Literal  beauty  of  style  will  never  compensate  a  per- 
son for  the  lack  of  moral  courage.  Theories  were 
formed  to  fit  a  desired  end,  and  any  science  that  ex- 
posed the  bravado  of  the  ruling  class  had  to  smoulder 
in  silence,  for  the  one  science  of  the  bravado  is,  that 
might  is  right.  It  was  simple  in  theory  to  pamper  to 
the  illiteracy  of  the  bravado  and  make  imaginary  spirits 
perform  in  conformity  to  the  ideal  fancy  of  any  person 
in  possession  of  literal  ability. 

The  subtlety  of  the  tyrant  arrayed  in  superficial 
grandeur,  with  literal  science  compelled  to  serve  the 
King,  had  a  silent  competitor  more  potent  to  protect 
his  subjects  than  all  the  braggadocio  he  could  com- 
mand. Natural  fear  made  it  possible  for  man  to  en- 
slave his  kind,  and  silent  submission  appeared  such 
by  reason  of  ignorance,  but  spiritual  knowledge  was 
never  revealed  in  literal  words,  for  if  it  had  been  literal 
braggadocio  would  have  been  a  common  instinct  and 
slavery  would  have  been  as  impossible  as  it  is  among 
the  lower  animals.  The  very  existence  of  fear  proves 
the  inherent  endowment  of  spiritual  knowledge.  The 
spirit  of  love  conquers  fear,  and  no  worse  slavery  was 
possible  than  the  commanding  of  material  service  from 
an  apparent  inferior  to  gratify  a  material  appetite  for 
either  luxury,  adulation  or  power  of  oppression.    Mere 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  99 

appetite  enslaved  Esau,  and  experience  alone  can  only 
determine  what  it  means  to  defy  spiritual  knowledge. 
Thus  fear  is  a  dual  factor  in  the  protection  of  the  hu- 
man race ;  it  makes  material  slavery  possible,  but  with 
a  strict  regard  for  direct  spiritual  knowledge,  spirit- 
ual slavery  is  impossible.  It  is  Christianity,  and  liter- 
ally taught  in  the  Bible;  its  spiritual  character,  how- 
ever, is  impossible  to  be  obtained  from  a  pagan  ren- 
dering, for  a  person  is  forced  by  spiritual  authority  to 
a  strict  personal  responsibility ;  it  must  necessarily  ex- 
clude the  Bible  by  proxy,  for  that  would  be  a  form  of 
slavery  that  the  Bible  itself  rebukes.  That  is,  Bible 
interpretations  are  second-hand  instructions,  for  spir- 
itual knowledge  is  a  sacred  personality  that  can  only 
be  surrendered  by  the  personal  will  in  like  manner  to 
Esau  which  is  the  worst  form  of  slavery  that  the  Bible 
records.  It  makes  voluntary  servitude  even  worse 
than  the  involuntary. 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  about  chattel  slavery 
which  has  been  emancipated  from  legal  protection, 
but  the  worst  form  of  slavery  remains  to  be  emanci- 
pated in  like  manner  to  the  former  just  as  soon  as  the 
slaves  are  willing,  for  spiritual  knowledge  acts  directly 
upon  the  person  involved.  Slavery  of  every  character 
is  the  result  of  fear — a  lack  of  courage — and  education 
of  any  character  that  teaches  fear  is  mixed  with  eso- 
teric paganism  to  keep  slaves  in  profitable  service.  In 
contradistinction,  the  Scriptures  teach  love  and  faith 
which  dispel  fear  as  a  rainbow  predicts  fair  weather. 
That  slavery  is  possible  is  because  freedom  is  possible; 
and  if  after  the  Creator  bestowed  spiritual  freedom  upon 
the  child  at  birth,  it  would  have  been  absurd  to  have 
guarded  it  so  carefully  as  to  have  restrained  the  law  of 


lOO  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

gravity  in  depriving  the  child  of  the  freedom  to  rise. 
Slavery  is  analogous  to  the  primitive  "fall,"  for  it  was 
the  only  possible  method  of  educating  the  human  race, 
other  than  bestowing  a  complete  diploma  as  was  done  in 
the  case  of  animals.  Surely  when  love  and  faith  were 
literally  taught  from  spiritual  revelation  in  addition  to 
the  fall,  no  one  but  the  person  involved  is  to  blame 
for  slavery.  Besides  divine  protection  went  still  fur- 
ther, by  enforcing  the  responsibility  and  punishment 
both,  upon  the  task-master. 

Again,  the  difference  between  spiritual  slavery  and  ma- 
terial slavery  is  exactly  parallel  to  the  difference  be- 
tween spiritual  education  and  the  literal,  the  former  is 
real  while  the  latter  is  second-hand.  Now,  if  the  edu- 
cator taught  concrete  freedom  which  would  be  a  repeti- 
tion, it  would  be  equivalent  to  teaching  what  the  child 
was  taught  at  birth.  In  the  light  of  economy,  however, 
the  teacher  who  knows  it  to  be  the  truth  could  teach  the 
Christian  system  instead  of  the  pagan,  when  the  literal 
task-master  could  be  left  to  settle  his  account  with  his 
Creator  on  an  equal  footing  with  his  slave. 

The  fact  that  Spirit,  life,  energy^  and  force  are  the 
motor  of  motion  it  represents  the  one  natural  phenome- 
non of  action,  and  the  ambition  for  discovery  born  to 
every  person  who  reveals  his  own  spirit  by  the  very  act 
of  walking  is  better  proof  of  the  direct  revealing  force  of 
spirit,  than  any  literal  product  derived  from  itself.  It  is 
experience,  not  in  debt  to  literal  science  for  its  birth,  for 
it  is  the  first  education  always  revealed  prior  to  letters. 
On  general  principles  the  predecessor  of  the  child  is  the 
task-master  from  which  slavery  first  took  form  justified 
by  pagan  literature.  The  early  task-masters  enslaved 
even  members  of  their  own  family  by  the  mere  physical 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  lOI 

power  to  do  it;  and  if  moral  redemption  can  be  enslaved 
by  literal  authority  which  has  always  been  the  task-mas- 
ter in  first  one  form  and  then  another,  it  would  make  rea- 
son the  slave  of  brute  instinct.  If  reason  was  bestowed 
upon  humanity  in  an  unequal  degree,  is  it  not  more  rea- 
sonable that  it  was  to  protect  the  weak  rather  than  en- 
slave them?  Literal  authority  defends  itself  in  precepts 
by  claiming  to  protect  the  weak;  in  practice,  however, 
the  weak  experience  of  the  child  is  a  continual  protest 
against  being  a  slave  to  literal  authority  when  its  active 
existence  depends  upon  spiritual  authority  that  the  lit- 
eral has  never  enslaved  theoretically  since  Socrates,  who 
was  the  first  martyr  to  the  cause  of  Christian  education 
and  democratic  principles.  He  denounced  his  contempo- 
raries for  the  effort  of  enslaving  the  spirit  by  material  or 
literal  effort.    His  prayer  was : 

"Beloved  Pan,  and  all  ye  other  gods  who  here  abide, 
grant  me  to  be  beautiful  in  the  inner  man,  and  all  I  have 
of  outer  things  to  be  at  peace  with  those  within.  May  I 
count  the  wise  man  only  rich,  and  may  my  store  of  gold 
be  such  as  none  but  the  good  can  bear." 

The  first  need  of  the  child  is  bread,  even  in  the  interest 
of  posterity,  before  the  literal  task-master  has  even  a 
standpoint  to  practice  his  literal  slavery.  What  would 
become  of  the  child  except  for  its  literal  training?  It 
could  be  answered  by  another  question:  what  would  be- 
come of  posterity  except  for  the  spiritual  training  the 
child  gets  direct  from  its  Creator?  The  commercial 
profit  derived  from  the  training  of  the  child  controls  the 
general  principle  of  literal  education.  Such  education, 
however,  should  be  studied  as  an  abstract  in  justice  to 
the  general  principle  of  education.  It  is  depriving  of 
the  child  of  its  bread  in  the  pretense  of  a  prospective  fu- 


102  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

ture  where  the  principle  of  slavery  is  involved.  Besides 
it  is  only  the  pedant  that  takes  umbrage  at  a  just  rebuke. 
Such  will  hide  behind  a  superior  in  a  pretended  defence 
of  one,  who  is  much  better  able  to  defend  himself.  The 
real  scholar  is  a  student  that  recognizes  concrete  facts  on 
general  principles,  while  the  pedant  can  float  on  literal 
abstracts  and  feel  as  comfortable  as  a  slave  who  has  sur- 
rendered his  privilege  of  being  the  "free  agent"  of  his 
Creator  to  become  the  sub-agent  of  another  person  in 
his  own  likeness. 

Because  stealing  does  not  stop  by  reason  of  law  and 
punishment,  it  does  not  justify  the  thief  who  escapes  get- 
ting caught,  but  is  there  any  sense  to  the  privilege  of 
logic  and  discourse  or  even  the  general  principle  of  edu- 
cation; it  could  not  be  denied  that  a  person  who  would 
enslave  a  child  by  reason  of  its  weakness  (which  history 
shows  to  have  been  a  fact)  for  commercial  profit,  the 
same  greed  for  profit  would  educate  the  child  to  the 
same  end.  It  would  have  taxed  the  genius  of  Aristotle 
in  making  syllogisms  to  explain:  If  natural  law  protects 
the  child  against  the  greed  of  literal  education  in  propor- 
tion to  the  child's  willingness  to  choose  between  good 
and  evil;  is  natural  law  the  teacher  or  the  taught?  This 
proposition  would  in  logic,  carried  to  whatever  length 
that  a  discourse  in  literal  words  might  be  possible,  result 
in  the  choice  between  natural  freedom  or  literal  slavery. 

Experience  is  the  only  method  by  which  it  can  be  set- 
tled when  a  person  cannot  be  taught  not  to  "fall,"  but  the 
"fall"  is  able  to  prove  to  the  person  fallen  that  literal  edu- 
cation is  responsible  for  evil  which  depends  upon  natural 
law  for  redemption — education,  and  freedom  contending 
against  the  greed  of  man  to  enslave  his  kind.    In  reality, 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I03 

natural  activity  is  made  a  commodity  of  commerce,  be- 
cause the  credulous  can  be  imposed  upon  and  also 
charged  for  the  imposition. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


HABIT. 


TJABIT  could  be  considered  as  a  crystallized  con- 
^^  science;  its  relation  to  literal  education  is  one  of  its 
principal  products.  Educational  systems  that  are 
maintained  for  commercial  profit  would  necessarily 
contend  that  habit  was  one  of  the  cardinal  virtues 
that  was  desirable  to  possess.  Examples  are  plenty 
which  form  the  larger  portion  of  literal  authority. 
Thus  if  a  person  surrenders  to  the  principle  and  per- 
mits his  natural  thoughts  to  become  crystallized  by 
outside  influences  it  could  result  in  a  passive  content- 
ment akin  to  ideal  happiness. 

Steady  habits  can  be  equally  good  or  bad  according 
to  the  influence  that  directs  them.  The  most  import- 
ant feature  in  either  case,  is  a  service  rendered  to  the 
outside  influence.  Educators  more  concerned  in  the 
profit  of  teaching  than  the  results  toward  others,  are 
readily  convinced  of  any  theory  that  will  promote  the 
end  in  view.  After  a  teacher's  thoughts  become  crys- 
talized,  they  also  settle  down  to  steady  habits,  and  to 
persuade  such  a  person  to  construct  an  original 
thought  would  appear  to  be  a  transgression  upon  the 


I04  THE   ECONOMY   OF  EDUCATION. 

power  of  God.  For  example,  to  convince  a  mind  crys- 
talized  by  literal  authority  that  it  was  impossible  to 
teach  another  natural  habits,  would  be  destructive  to 
the  theoretic  crystals,  which  would  be  equivalent  to  a 
new  birth  or  what  the  Scriptures  reveal  as  born  of  the 
Spirit. 

The  child,  -therefore,  is  the  redeeming  force  that 
civilizes  humanity.  It  is  the  direct  voice  of  God  and 
if  the  child  fails  to  regenerate  the  parent  and  dissolve 
the  crystalized  habits  of  literal  authority  the  living 
circle  of  the  parent  will  have  reached  its  greatest  di- 
ameter. Human  progress  ebbs  and  flows  in  circles; 
the  ideal  circle  reaches  out  beyond  the  reality  of  cog- 
nate existence  by  means  of  literal  art.  A  person  can 
become  active  in  ideals  and  passive  in  constructions. 
In  the  absence  of  careful  explanation,  habits  can  be  so 
formed  that  ideals  are  preferable  to  realities;  such  a 
state  of  things  is  just  as  possible  as  suicide.  If  other- 
wise, progress  would  be  impossible,  but  when  a  per- 
son commits  mental  suicide  it  is  still  possible  to  main- 
tain a  physical  organism.  The  touch  of  spirit  would 
appear  to  supply  the  necessary  vitality;  while  the  hu- 
man feature  of  existence  had  ceased  to  perform  its 
functions.  That  such  conditions  can  be  determined 
by  an  observer,  the  person  afflicted  could  be  so  habitu- 
ated to  the  cultivation  of  ideal  thoughts  exclusively, 
as  to  be  utterly  unconscious  of  his  loss.  Because  a 
person  can  be  educated  to  steal,  with  a  reasonable 
possibility  of  feeling  no  wrong  in  the  act,  presents  a 
reason  also,  that  an  abstract  educator  of  any  character 
could  teach  a  person  habits  of  action,  when  the  teacher 
and  taught  both  could  be  innocent  of  intent,  and  as 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  IO5 

irresponsible  for  the  act  as  an  animal  ignorant  of  lit- 
eral science. 

This  feature  adds  to  the  responsibility  of  an  educa- 
tor who  would  withhold  a  simple  explanation  of  literal 
science  for  fear  the  art  would  become  so  common  as 
to  detract  from  the  commercial  profit  of  education. 
When  a  person  is  recognized  as  possessing  a  title  to 
the  privilege  of  being  his  own  accuser  it  could  scarcely 
appear  reasonable  to  hold  that  he  could  be  led  astray 
by  literal  authority  to  the  extent  of  forgetting  the 
natural  education  bestowed  upon  him  at  birth.  Rea- 
son would  cease  to  be  such  if  custom  and  habit  could 
control  it,  or  that  the  product  of  natural  knowledge, 
which  is  the  literal,  could  control  its  own  source.  The- 
ories based  upon  pagan  speculation  have  only  been 
able  to  maintain  attraction  sufficient  to  hold  a  system 
of  education  together  by  yielding  to  science  a  principle 
so  simple  that  even  a  child  could  comprehend  it  except 
for  the  opportunity  withheld. 

Theories  that  are  dependent  for  facts  upon  scien- 
tific discovery  could  not  claim  to  be  reasonable,  except 
in  the  presence  of  illiteracy;  the  effort  therefore  to 
maintain  an  extravagant  system  of  education  upon  no 
firmer  ground  than  to  protect  the  habits  and  customs 
of  the  pagans,  since  science  has  exposed  their  soph- 
istry, it  is  extremely  unreasonable.  Habit  is  non-pro- 
gressive, and  yet  not  so  cruel  as  many  systems  of  edu- 
cation; it  would  appear  to  be  a  natural  protection 
against  the  abuse  of  education,  for  after  the  brain  be- 
comes sterile  to  a  partial  extent  even,  which  experience 
will  reveal,  the  ambition  for  literal  progress  would  ap- 
pear in  a  loss  of  attention.  To  treat  this  as  a  science 
or  a  theory,  objections  could  be  advanced  that  would 


I06  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

disprove  such  an  assertion,  but  the  question  would 
arise  in  rebuttal,  for  an  objector  to  show  any  literal 
process  by  which  an  experience  could  be  disproved. 

It  is  this  utter  impossibility  of  the  literal  convey- 
ance of  a  sense  conception  that  makes  habit  a  much 
more  comfortable  condition  than  the  responsibilities 
always  attached  to  mental  activity.  Birth,  however, 
is  not  for  the  person  born  to  choose  whether  he  will 
be  born  or  not;  and  it  would  be  equally  absurd  to 
prove  to  another  living  person  that  he  was  not  born, 
as  to  disbelieve  his  assertion  of  an  experience  by  any 
scientific  method  beyond  dispute.  A  chronic  sterility 
of  mental  activity  is  an  external  feature  of  observation 
that  will  disclose  the  absence  of  experience.  That  is, 
a  habit  which  often  appears  to  be  derived  from  abstract 
education  to  such  an  alarming  extent,  that  a  person 
will  cultivate  second-hand  thoughts,  until  their  own 
constructive  ability  becomes  paralyzed.  Natural  ad- 
justment will  correct  this  evil  of  the  modern  system  of 
education  unless  the  physical  has  become  as  artificially 
crystallized  as  the  mental  faculties. 

The  petition  of  the  child  is  the  direct  voice  of  God 
in  spite  of  pagan  theories  to  the  contrary.  Beauty  is 
moral  rectitude  and  Christian  charity,  that  no  literal 
ability  ever  transcended;  it  reflects  from  the  inner  out- 
ward and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  people  utterly 
ignorant  of  letters,  also  barely  able  to  express  their 
thoughts,  possesses  both  beauty  of  figure  with  a  charity 
of  action.  It  does  not  require  much  literal  knowledge 
to  discover  that  it  is  the  most  favored  in  acquirements 
who  abuse  the  divine  privilege  of  progress ;  but  the 
petition  of  children  should  be  heeded  at  least,  for  God 
never  put  them  on  the  earth  for  greed  to  prey  upon  in 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  IO7 

defiance  of  punishment.  Neither  proof  nor  punish- 
ment from  human  agency  needs  to  be  considered  at  all, 
for  if  the  past  reflects  the  future  the  question  of  pun- 
ishment should  not  be  doubted.  The  question,  why? 
in  literal  parlance,  reflects  upon  the  privilege  of  prog- 
ress, a  fear,  often  expressed,  that  a  neglect  of  literal 
instruction  will  cause  the  human  race  to  revert  back 
into  "barbarism."  Children  continue  to  be  spread  upon 
the  earth  so  plentifully  that  the  question  of  barbarism 
could  be  laid  aside,  and  take  up  the  greater  question: 
What  will  become  of  educators  who  know  the  present 
state  of  things  and  haven't  moral  courage  enough  to 
sacrifice  their  immediate  interest  by  recognizing  the 
wisdom  of  God,  rather  than  continuing  to  uphold  pa- 
gan precepts? 

If  history  has  escaped  cultivation,  since  the  ancient 
poets  and  Greek  scholars  died,  to  the  extent  they 
would  not  if  now  living  recognize  their  own  accredited 
works,  it  is  about  the  only  thing  that  the  greed  of  man 
has  not  appropriated  for  personal  profit. 

Habit  is  a  convenient  shield  for  fear  to  hide  be- 
hind. It  involves  the  will,  however;  and  to  obtain  re- 
sults desired  without  encountering  danger  is  a  natural 
impossibility.  It  could  doubtless  be  disproved  literally, 
for  the  multitude  follow  for  fear  of  independent  action. 
The  decision  of  an  individual  has  no  eflfect  upon  the 
principle,  but  it  effects  the  individual  in  proportion  to 
his  courage.  Christ  exemplified  the  principle  which 
is  no  less  than  individual  independence.  To  follow 
Christ  is  to  follow  the  principle  exemplified  rather  than 
to  follow  the  political  theory  of  obedience  often 
preached  in  His  name  to  protect  dominant  interests. 
Perfected  obedience,  as  a  result  of  education,  is  a  con- 


I08  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

dition  of  ignorance  as  thoroughly  sealed  as  the  em- 
bryo humanity  previous  to  birth.  That  is,  when  the 
concept  of  experience  is  forestalled  by  the  precept  of 
theories.  It  is  the  individual  limit  of  progress  when 
the  circle  of  independence  is  confined  to  the  degree  that 
outside  influences  can  control  the  will. 

Independent  personality  is  the  natural  protection 
against  literal  authority,  or  theoretic  education.  The 
conflict  between  these  two  important  principles  has 
been  the  chief  cause  of  war,  if  not  the  only  cause.  The 
general  character  of  war  is  just  as  protective  as  it  is 
destructive.  Human  existence  is  necessarily  depend- 
ent upon  a  duality  of  action  which  results  in  war  of 
some  character;  the  same  as  the  conflict  between  sun 
and  cloud,  or  love  and  fear,  both  of  which  always  end 
in  fair  weather  and  peace.  Nations  or  minor  organiza- 
tions are  as  dependent  upon  individual  followers  as 
the  ocean  depends  upon  drops  of  water.  Natural  edu- 
cation, therefore,  so  strictly  confined  to  the  inner  man 
that  theoretic  or  literal  authority  has  always  failed  like 
clouds  seeking  to  obscure  the  sun.  The  effort  to  hide 
a  fact  is  one  of  the  surest  mehtods  of  disclosing  it  to 
be  a  fact,  and  what  constitutes  an  independent  person- 
ality is  all  the  better  seen  from  the  theoretic  effort  to 
convince  an  adult  person  that  it  is  safer  to  follow  than 
to  exercise  natural  independence,  of  which  every  per- 
son possesses  a  clear  title,  and  naturally  governed  by 
the  dual  principle  of  love  and  fear. 

Greed  and  selfishness  are  the  result  of  cultivating 
fear,  and  there  is  no  surer  way  of  betraying  selfishness 
than  to  maintain  theoretically  the  training  of  children 
to  the  importance  of  acting  unselfish,  while  a  system 
of  education  is  carefully  prepared  to  teach  a  method  of 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  ICQ 

hiding  selfishness.  Natural  independence  can  only 
be  maintained  by  the  courage  that  faith  in  an  over- 
ruling power  will  establish.  It  is  more  a  sacrifice  of 
material  reward  to  maintain  an  independent  stand  than 
to  be  persuaded  to  follow  and  become  dependent  upon 
a  leader.  It  completely  reverses  the  sentiment  that  an 
independent  person  is  selfish,  which  fact  is  strictly  con- 
fined to  a  dependent  person.  The  effort  of  educators 
and  scribes  in  all  ages  has  been  to  hide  this  simple  fact 
— that  natural  education  maintains  the  balance  of 
power  against  the  theoretic.  There  is  no  better  literal 
authority  for  natural  education  than  the  Bible,  and  no 
better  proof  of  the  fact  exists  than  the  multitude  of 
theoretic  interpreters  making  such  desperate  effort  to 
hide  it. 

Politics  is  the  science  of  (a)  government  and  the 
theoretic  effort  to  confound  a  civil  government  with 
the  government  of  God  is  just  where  the  leak  is,  for 
the  government  of  God  is  natural,  strictly  independent 
of  politics  or  theoretic  efforts. 

A  principle  is  merely  a  figure  of  "a  fundamental 
truth,"  for  words,  signs,  and  figures  are  only  relative 
to  natural  animation — a  self-revealing  phenomenon  of 
spirit  that  all  the  theory  and  science  of  man  has  never 
been  able  to  analyze.  Reasonable  philosophers  admit 
it,  and  among  themselves  it  is  a  settled  conviction ;  but 
when  literal  education,  including  moral  ethics,  is  the 
subject  of  discussion  the  effort  to  hide  "settled"  con- 
victions is  the  best  proof  in  the  world  that  such  con- 
victions are  unsettled,  or  there  would  be  no  object  in 
trying  to  convince  another  they  were  settled.  Atten- 
tion should  be  concentrated  upon  the  object,  rather 
than  the  profundity  of  argument,  or  extravagant  dis- 


no  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

play  of  rhetoric,  for  rhetoric  and  politics  have  always 
been  companions  since  the  beginning  of  recorded 
events.  Philanthropy  and  politics  are  as  combative  as 
good  and  evil,  the  bone  of  contention  being  the  con- 
trol of  education,  a  self-asserting  principle  no  less  than 
an  independent  personality  as  much  so  as  one  snow 
flake  is  independent  of  another. 

Thus  an  object  of  serious  import  must  exist  if  edu- 
cators are  as  ready  to  enlighten  the  public  as  their 
declaration  of  purpose  would  imply.  If  they  are  as 
free  to  act  as  their  words  suggest,  they  would  unite 
with  the  petition  of  babes  (the  voice  of  God)  to  ex- 
pose the  political  effort  to  control  education.  The 
effort  to  hide  its  simplicity  cannot  continue  indefinitely 
from  the  mere  noise  of  rhetoric,  for  silent  intelligence 
(natural  intelligence)  is  as  unconquerable  as  it  is  un- 
analytic.  The  possibility  of  teaching  the  language  of 
love  is  the  natural  privilege  of  parents,  which  counter- 
acts the  political  effort  to  "break  the  child's  will  in 
the  cradle"  that  it  may  become  a  "better  citizen"  and 
.obediently  serve  at  the  command  of  the  body  politic. 


\ 

\ 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  Ill      \ 

\ 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ASSOCIATION. 

ASSOCIATION  is  a  natural  condition  dependent  upon 
independent  units.  This  assertion  is  more  to  present 
a  comparison  than  to  contradict  literal  authority  which 
declares  an  incident  closed,  or  settled,  whenever  a 
group  of  persons  by  their  own  fiat  agree  not  to  dis- 
pute it,  but  the  Power  that  turns  the  earth  is  above 
the  command  of  man  and  a  touch  of  that  Power  is 
bestowed  upon  every  living  thing.  In  proof  of  which, 
personal  experience  is  a  sacred  revelation,  because  it 
is  nearer  to  God,  and  occurred  before  letters  were  dis- 
covered. Therefore,  whatever  virtue  there  may  be  in 
literal  authority,  it  has  never  reached  the  power  to 
command  experience.  The  beginning  of  personality  is 
no  secret  to  the  individual  person,  but  the  discovery 
of  another  person  of  like  image  establishes  the  prin- 
ciple of  association  when  literal  education  becomes 
possible  by  reason  of  comparison  that  the  fact  of  asso- 
ciation suggests,  the  economy  of  which,  being  its  most 
important  feature. 

When  the  sense  of  fear  is  played  upon  by  predeces- 
sors having  no  other  authority  than  an  earlier  begin- 
ning, nothing  but  the  force  of  love  will  protect  a  child 
from  becoming  the  victim  of  political  influence.  The 
effort  to  disguise  the  most  important  feature  of  life  by 
seeking  to  cripple  the  will  of  a  child  when  the  brain 


112  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

is  plastic  with  a  disposition  confidential,  turns  the 
principle  of  education  to  murder,  or  even  worse.  The 
wrong  lies  in  the  teaching  of  psychology  as  derived 
from  pagan  precedent.  The  child  is  deceived  from  its 
confidence  in  the  parent  who  was  previously  deceived 
by  the  same  process.  If  the  study  of  psychology  is  to 
strengthen  the  mental  faculties  by  exercise,  no  excep- 
tion to  it  need  be  considered,  but  when  it  flatters  the 
parent  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  child,  the  real 
purpose  of  psychology  is  revealed. 

The  eflfort  to  supersede  the  association  of  parent  and 
child  by  state  authority  is  the  reason  for  so  much 
mental  labor  bestowed  upon  the  science  of  mind.  The 
reason  psychology  remains  a  theory  is  because  the 
facts  cannot  be  changed  to  accommodate  the  desired 
end,  for  which  the  science  is  studied ;  the  real  fact  of 
individual  experience  determines  more  than  any 
written  word  can  portray.  For  instance,  language  is 
a  comparison  of  common  interest,  so  simple  that  no 
doubt  exists  between  two  persons  before  letters  are 
introduced.  It  is  not  only  a  fact  of  memory  but  a  com- 
mon observation,  the  very  superlative  of  education. 
Written  testimony,  this  writing,  could  be  treated  too 
abtruse,  or  too  simple  as  the  case  might  be ;  in  either 
case  it  would  the  more  surely  verify  the  fact.  Human 
nature  is  often  declared  to  be  of  two-fold  character, 
the  one  inherent  and  the  other  environment,  yet  the 
stubborn  fact  would  be  as  divine  and  brilliant  as  ever. 
It  so  thoroughly  contradicts  any  school  of  philosophy 
seeking  to  maintain  a  passing  dogma,  that  a  child  de- 
pends for  its  education  upon  the  transmission  of  intel- 
ligence by  letter,  either  from  its  parent  or  teacher. 
The  multitude  of  writings  bearing  upon  ethical  asso- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  II3 

ciation  simply  dispute  each  other  in  striving  to  prove 
the  child's  dependence  upon  its  predecessors  for  intel- 
ligence; call  it  knowledge  or  whatever  sign  one 
chooses,  the  natural  ability  to  make  the  sign,  shows  of 
itself,  the  continued  futility  of  trying  to  trespass  upon 
the  realm  of  God.  Letters  are  the  means  of  recording 
knowledge  and  whatever  assistance  they  render  in  the 
line  of  commerce  and  progress,  the  intrinsic  virtue  of 
knowledge  continues  to  be  a  personal  privilege,  in 
degree,  however  feeble,  the  principle  is  not  disturbed 
an  atom.  The  Bible  is  a  written  record  of  this  prin- 
ciple requiring  no  interpretation  after  a  person  pos- 
sesses the  ability  to  read.  The  teaching  of  letters  and 
terminology  is  mere  abstract  education,  the  extreme 
limit  of  predecessors.  The  ancient  heroes,  pagan  or 
otherwise,  received  their  title  as  such  after  they  were 
dead,  since  heroes  are  always  more  remarkable  in 
death  than  during  the  brief  period  of  dwelling  within 
the  flesh. 

Political  and  theoretical  effort  to  compel  obedience 
to  the  body  politic  is  a  prerogative  of  the  heathens, 
who  made  strenuous  efforts  to  prevent  the  art  of  let- 
ters becoming  common;  and  only  by  a  change  of 
method  is  the  same  effort  disguised  at  the  present 
time.  Any  economy  of  education  would  doubtless  be 
as  strenuously  combatted  by  the  present  ruling  prin- 
ciple of  polity.  That  the  freedom  of  the  will  makes 
evil  possible  needs  no  comment,  for  it  touches  the  per- 
sonality of  experience,  which  is  sufficiently  instructive, 
without  the  purchase  of  relief,  for  which  the  polity  of 
literal  art  is  always  seeking  patronage  as  eagerly  as  a 
merchant  seeks  customers  for  his  goods. 

To  consider  association  as  an  ideal  principle  is  the 


114  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

limit  of  letters,  leaving  the  actual  fact  of  two  persons 
seeking  correspondence,  to  the  domain  of  Nature.  Ad- 
mitting even  that  ideals  transcend  the  regularity  of 
natural  law,  it  cannot  be  denied  successfully  that 
ideals  are  other  than  personal  property,  the  title  to 
which  being  clear,  the  possession  also  as  unsolicited  as 
individual  birth,  it  makes  the  relation  of  abstract  edu- 
cation to  the  absolute  necessity  of  association  of  prime 
importance;  not  only  to  one  person  but  to  every  per- 
son. Combativeness  is  as  necessary  to  progress  as  a 
"fall"  is  to  a  babe — that  it  may  rise  in  knowledge.  Be- 
cause of  its  necessity,  in  no  sense  does  it  justify  evil. 
Christianity  presents  a  scheme  of  atonement,  but  the 
present  body  politic,  who  betray  their  knowledge  of 
this  simple  fact,  by  striving  constantly  to  hide  it,  are 
as  guilty  as  the  Roman  Empire  was  of  the  crucifixion. 
Greed  may  be  as  necessary  as  combativeness  or  the 
"fall" — frequently   termed   "original   sin." 

Every  human  thought  is  simply  an  ideal  draft  of 
purpose  that  poets  and  scholars  rave  about  ever  since 
the  discovery  of  letters,  but  they  were  first  woven  into 
literature  by  the  heathens  who  persisted  in  calling  the 
(art)  knowledge,  for  political  reason.  Socrates  dis- 
covered the  subterfuge  and  the  same  art  in  its  proper 
place  recorded  his  fate,  which  is  now  a  matter  of  his- 
tory. If  the  body  politic  of  the  present  day  would  per- 
mit, or  could  they  be  persuaded  to  teach  children  in 
the  primary  grades  the  simple  fact,  that  knowledge 
made  letters  rather  than  what  is  taught  that  letters 
make  knowledge,  parents  would  begin,  at  least,  to 
learn  that  their  children  were  being  crucified  on  the 
cross  of  greed  under  the  present  order  of  education. 

Proof  .is  the  first  demand  that  is  made  upon  an  ideal 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  II5 

conception,  but  even  this  prompt  demand  suggests  a 
question  to  learn  what  is  to  be  proved.  When  so 
many  people,  renowned  in  history,  and  continue  to  be 
remarkable,  refuse  to  believe  the  statement  of  an  eye 
witness,  besides,  what  is  still  worse,  which  is  often  the 
case,  people  will  not  admit  what  they  do  believe. 
Now  a  thought  is  either  an  individual  concept  or  per- 
sonality is  an  irresponsible  condition  and  whatever 
proof  is  demanded,  this  alternative  demands  attention, 
or  proof  of  any  character  would  be  hopelessly  impos- 
sible. A  logical  conclusion  upon  this  line  of  argument 
would  be  that  animals  were  more  favored  by  reason 
of  not  being  endowed  with  sufficient  intelligence  to 
establish  literal  commerce.  Whatever  objection  could 
be  offered  against  the  principle  of  association  or  edu- 
cation, a  disrespect  for  the  individuality  of  an  ideal 
thought  would  be  disrespect  for  the  first  principle  of 
progress  and  civilization  that  has  always  been  and 
forever  will  be,  from  dire  necessity,  the  gulf  between 
the  animal  instinct  and  human  intelligence. 

The  proof  of  an  ideal  thought  is  confined  to  the  ex- 
perience, and  no  system  of  psychology  can  teach  the 
principle  without  the  experience  which  is  also  essen- 
tial to  the  person  taught.  That  is,  the  ability  to  re- 
ceive the  instruction  could  not  be  taught,  without  be- 
traying the  incongruity  to  a  person  in  possession  of 
the  only  known  method  by  which  an  ideal  thought  is 
possible.  The  teaching  of  abstracts  is  not  immedi- 
ately connected  with  the  relation  of  association.  It  is 
the  convenience  and  possibility  of  teaching  abstracts 
that  can  as  readily  destroy  the  constructive  character 
of  the  mind,  as  to  break  a  child's  legs  to  prevent  it 
from  going  astray. 


Il6  THE    ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

It  is  a  personal  privilege  to  believe  or  not  to  believe 
w^hether  there  is  any  sin  in  Nature,  but  one  position  or 
the  other  must  be  taken  to  maintain  any  theory  of  ab- 
stract education,  if  the  rules  of  logic  are  respected, 
upon  which  all  theories  rest.  If  a  parent  can  be  even 
persuaded  that  a  child  is  conceived  in  sin  it  can  as 
readily  be  maintained  that  compulsory  education  is  a 
necessity  to  correct  the  evil.  Whatever  the  Scriptures 
say  upon  the  subject  and  whatever  theoretic  interpre- 
tations could  be  deducted  from  them,  it  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  convince  an  enlightened  parent  that  a  child 
is  conceived  in  sin.  If  this  is  an  exploded  theory,  why 
are  not  the  consequences  exploded  also?  If  the  state 
ignores  the  most  prominent  feature  of  Christianity 
(moral  suasion)  by  compelling  children  to  become 
good  citizens,  how  can  it  be  consistently  explained, 
when  the  result  is  superficial  Christians  by  developing 
the  human  possibility  to  sin,  by  the  very  compulsion 
that  is  radically  in  opposition  to  the  example  of 
Christ? 

If  the  sin  is  not  in  Nature,  there  cannot  be  any  rea- 
sonable accounting  for  its  existence,  except  it  is  de- 
rived from  the  mistakes  in  education.  Even  a  horse 
could  be  compelled  to  kick  when  the  same  energy 
could  be  directed  to  a  better  purpose  by  the  simple 
method  of  persuasion.  If  the  weakness  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  strengthened  by  association,  the  association 
must  recognize  the  mutual  obligation  of  each  unit  to 
the  other,  for  to  employ  the  strength  of  the  associa- 
tion to  compel  a  unit  to  submit  to  the  dictation  of  the 
association,  with  punishment  inflicted  to  enforce  it, 
leaves  the  individual  as  dependent  upon  natural  re- 
sources as  before  he  became  a  part  of  the  association. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  II7 

This  is  a  mere  logical  sequence  of  cultivating  a  confi- 
dence in  association  and  taking  advantage  of  weak- 
ness only  to  betray  it.  It  is  what  is,  rather  than  what 
ought  to  be,  that  humanity  has  to  contend  with  whether 
willing  or  not. 

There  is  nothing  more  prominent  in  human  affairs 
than  that  of  natural  association  being  utilized  to  effect 
the  contrary  to  that  which  intelligent  reason  as  such 
cannot  evade.  The  strenuous  effort  to  maintain  that 
knowledge  is  obtained  by  transmission  depends  for 
transient  success  upon  the  employment  of  the  strength 
of  association  to  subdue  and  control  the  weak.  The 
fact  that  all  such  success  is  transient  shows  conclu- 
sively that  a  person  knows  it  or  his  degree  of  learning 
is  extremely  limited.  If  it  is  not  safe  to  teach  the 
truth  for  fear  society  will  be  trampled  under  foot  by 
the  masses,  too  weak  to  comprehend  the  power  of  ar- 
tificial defence,  may  it  be  a  child  or  adult  person,  so- 
ciety would  be  better  preserved  in  the  absence  of  edu- 
cation. The  effort  to  control  natural  education  by 
deductions,  which  develop  a  skillful  method  of  dis- 
sembling, makes  the  inherent  character  of  knowledge 
more  prominent  than  the  abstract  which  utilizes  the 
art  of  letters  to  teach  that  knowledge  is  derived  from 
association,  when  to  the  contrary  it  is  association 
which,  by  the  natural  order  of  things,  derives  its 
knowledge  from  its  integral  parts. 

The  child  is  the  natural  teacher  of  the  parent, 
whether  self-elect  educators  are  able  to  convince  the 
parent  or  not  to  the  contrary.  Only  for  the  natural 
love  of  the  parent  for  the  child,  association  would  be 
impossible.  The  abstracts  of  this  principle  would  no 
doubt    convince    people    who    have    been    previously 


Il8  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

taught  to  believe  that  knowledge  was  revealed  at 
some  remote  age  and  transmitted  to  posterity,  when 
in  fact  knowledge  is  revealed  to  every  child  that  lives 
long  enough  to  see  the  light  of  day  or  experience  the 
force  of  gravity. 

The  first  flash  of  light  to  the  vision  of  a  child  is 
the  same  revelation  that  Christ  exemplified  and  the 
disputes  that  letters  made  possible,  have  been  confined 
to  the  interpretation  of  Christianity  which  is  involved 
in  education,  because  political  interests  have  contended 
against  its  simplicity  since  the  crucifixion.  If  a  child's 
natural  knowledge  can  be  overcome  by  artificial  knowl- 
edge it  is  no  more  than  the  extinction  of  a  spark  that 
snaps  into  existence.  To  extinguish  the  source  of  the 
spark,  however,  is  beyond  the  limit  of  man. 

The  fact  that  education  is  necessary  to  compre- 
hend the  written  record  of  the  events  pertaining  to 
Christianity  makes  education  important  as  a  political 
power  to  control  the  interpretations  of  the  Scripture 
in  such  a  way  that  the  spiritual  character  could  only 
be  reached  or  understood,  except  by  learned  interpre- 
tation. The  effort  to  teach  that  education  is  derived 
from  predecessors,  and  also  try  to  explain  away  their 
conspicuous  sins  by  a  skillful  manipulation  of  words, 
shows  the  same  motive  in  teaching  that  the  child  is 
dependent  upon  association  for  a  knowledge  of  letters 
by  which  the  revelation  of  God  may  be  known.  It  is 
so  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the 
political  effort  to  control  education  is  not  so  much  to 
enlighten  the  masses  as  to  keep  them  in  darkness.  If 
this  is  not  a  fact,  the  alternative  demands  attention, 
which  is  a  proposition  direct  to  the  individual.  Why 
is  literal  education  made  possible  by  the  discovery  of 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  IIQ 

letters,  maintained  by  the  power  of  association,  which 
is  also  dependent  upon  the  individual  wills  of  its  com- 
position, so  extravagantly  constructed  as  to  be  pro- 
hibitive and  extremely  expensive,  while  the  natural 
continues  to  be  free  ? 


CHAPTER  XV. 


INDEPENDENCE. 


T  NDEPENDENCE  is  not  an  acquirement  derived  from 
-*■  the  seeking,  but  instead  it  is  a  disconnected  condition 
separate  from  the  natural  whole.  To  exist  independent 
of  what  constitutes  the  whole  of  anything  is  like  a 
drop  of  water  taken  from  the  ocean  when  the  balance 
of  the  water  would  be  as  powerless  to  control  the  inde- 
pendent action  of  the  drop  as  the  drop  would  be  in  its 
most  energetic  effort  be  able  to  control  the  ocean. 
Multitudes  of  theories  have  been  advanced  only  to  be 
superseded  by  others  to  control  the  simple  principle 
of  independence. 

the  economy  of  method  reflecting  the  motive,  whether 
it  is  philanthropic  or  political  as  the  case  may  be. 
Personal  independence  could  be  selfishness  to  a  degree 
that  would  make  philanthropy  a  mere  pretence. 
Whichever  position  a  person  takes,  the  alternative  be- 
tween independence  or  submission  to  the  same  prin- 
ciple exercised  by  another,  is  a  dual  condition  as  fixed 


I20  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

The  matter  in  hand,  is  education  as  a  purpose  with 
as  light  and  darkness  and  responsibility  and  fatalism 
are  contrarities  equally  as  extreme.  In  whatever  light 
conscious  existence  is  viewed  the  problem  can  only 
be  determined  individually  with  all  the  accompanying 
duties  that  the  teaching  of  theories  surround  a  person. 
The  polity  of  teaching  individual  dependence  depends 
for  success  upon  the  sense  of  fear,  but  only  a  partial 
success,  however,  for  comfortable  safety  will  not  en- 
tirely extinguish  the  light  of  understanding.  Inde- 
pendence is  so  distinctly  a  feature  of  conception  as 
to  be  a  matter  of  common  observation.  Discretion 
may  be  a  result  of  education  akin  to  polity,  but  the 
sacred  character  of  personality  is  more  prominent, 
even  if  the  effort  of  discretion  is  to  disguise  it.  The 
light  of  natural  education  is  so  inherent  and  persistent 
in  conquering  the  effort  of  its  abstract  to  control  the 
natural  principle,  brings  the  individual  to  a  strict  ac- 
counting, not  to  any  other  man,  but  to  himself.  Ignor- 
ance is  a  virtue,  as  much  as  the  moral  nature  of  ani- 
mals and  any  abstract  theory  formulated  to  supersede 
its  own  source ;  call  it  education,  cultivation,  or  reli- 
gion ;  it  is  slavery  compared  to  the  example  and  teach- 
ing of  Christ. 

When  children  are  taught  to  follow  the  precepts  of 
their  predecessors  as  a  road  leading  to  success  and 
freedom  from  drudgery,  the  followers  become  so  in- 
volved in  expectation  as  to  bear  disappointment  with 
fortitude ;  and  after  becoming  warped  to  a  belief  in  the 
very  system  that  so  ingeniously  cultivates  the  surface, 
it  completely  silences  the  inner  thoughts.  Examples 
of  misfortune  are  referred  to  as  the  result  of  unwilling- 
ness to  follow  a  system  more  remarkable  for  hiding 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  121 

evil,  than  showing  how  it  can  be  overcome.  There  is 
a  tranquility  in  complete  resignation  that  presents  an 
appearance  of  grace  in  humble  service  that  is  foreign 
to  a  designing  leader,  who  envies  the  success  of  an  in- 
dependent character,  and  betrays  it  by  the  effort  he 
makes  in  denouncing  the  principle. 

That  an  individual  is  dependent  upon  God  is  not  a 
question  of  education  or  controversy,  it  is  a  sacred  re- 
lation, and  to  whatever  extent  education  can  be  util- 
ized to  clear  this  principle  from  its  political  fog,  it  is 
worthy  of  respect.  It  presents  a  different  aspect,  how- 
ever, when  children  are  taught  a  dependence  upon 
their  predecessors  for  rules  of  duty,  when  if  history  is 
at  all  reliable,  our  predecessors  were  more  remark- 
able for  sin,  tyranny,  and  bloodshed  than  they  were  for 
philanthropy.  The  exceptions  that  were  worthy  of 
emulation  were  those  who  defended  the  principle  of 
liberty  and  independence  by  defying  the  persecution  of 
political  authority.  A  question  of  education  cannot 
be  logically  considered  in  its  dual  character  without 
first  agreeing  to  treat  the  subject  either  in  its  con- 
crete form  or  its  abstracts — the  concrete  is  the  natural 
while  the  abstracts  are  the  limit  of  political  power. 

It  is  not  considered  by  educators  that  children  could 
be  taught  to  understand  the  relations  of  abstracts  to 
generalities,  and  even  the  sub-educated  often  betray 
a  remarkable  ignorance  of  a  principle  which  makes 
education  possible.  The  disposition  to  follow  is  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  very  spirit  of  independence  that 
is  a  common  privilege  if  experience  and  observations 
even  are  given  a  moderate  attention.  Now  if  abstract 
education  could  possibly  guide  the  natural,  as  a  strong- 
minded  man  can  persuade  another  to  follow  rather 


122  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

than  cultivate  the  common  privilege  of  independence, 
the  motive  for  teaching  a  dependence  upon  predeces- 
sors for  knowledge  is  revealed  by  the  light  of  logic  at 
least,  but  logic  and  rules  of  reasoning  are  only  referred 
to  by  leaders  who  are  learned  in  the  esoteric  method 
of  attracting  followers.  To  justify  a  method  by  which 
the  credulous  can  be  persuaded  to  follow,  even  the 
rules  of  logic  are  laid  aside,  and  only  some  ingenious 
excuse  can  justify  the  deception.  ^ 

The  most  common  method  to  confound  the  human 
understanding  is  sarcasm,  wit,  and  social  ostracism, 
which  have  superseded  the  earlier  methods  of  perse- 
cution, scarcely  less  effective,  however;  presenting  a 
mere  alternative  between  a  lingering  death  or  an  im- 
mediate execution.  It  is  not  a  question  of  dispute  but 
that  education  is  correcting  the  evils  of  past  in  spite 
of  the  conservative  effort  to  confine  progress  to  its 
present  limit.  "Let  well  enough  alone,"  is  a  senti- 
ment of  the  fossil,  but  there  is  a  touch  of  God — inde- 
pendence— bestowed  upon  the  entire  human  race  that 
the  most  ingenious  effort  of  man  cannot  fossilize. 
Knowledge  and  education  both  are  direct  from  God 
entirely  independent  of  literal  transmission  which  is 
only  an  abstract  from  the  general  principle.  In  proof 
of  an  assertion  which  the  polity  of  man  holds  in  con- 
tempt, and  disputes  it  when  cornered,  is  Christ's  mis- 
sion on  earth.  This  is  an  independent  testimony  from 
which  no  theological  dispute  is  sought,  or  will  be  con- 
sidered except  as  friend  to  friend,  or  man  to  man. 

The  general  principle  of  education  is  literally 
smothered  by  its  abstracts;  and  when  it  is  taught  in- 
directly in  effect,  that  the  husk  is  of  more  impor- 
tance than  the  kernel,  the  relation  of  abstracts  to  orig- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 23 

inal  principles  is  as  simple  as  the  conception  of  light 
by  a  babe.  To  impugn  a  testimony  and  demand  proof 
other  than  the  personal  presence  of  the  testifier  con- 
stitutes a  proof  itself  that  men's  confidence  in  each 
other  compares  very  unfavorably  with  the  confidence  of 
a  child  in  its  parents  or  v^hat  is  possible  for  love  to 
establish.  The  silent  testimony  of  a  babe  that  it  sees 
the  light  is  confirmed  by  simply  moving  the  light,  and 
independent  thinking  is  equally  as  natural  a  privilege. 
Thus  to  impugn  a  testimony  expressed  in  v^ords  is  a 
psychological  impossibility  without  betraying  the 
same  error  or  falsehood  that  an  accuser  might  seek  to 
fasten  upon  another.  The  most  sublime  feature  of  the 
principle  of  independence  is  the  privilege  of  thought 
so  utterly  beyond  the  power  of  another  to  prevent, 
that  even  the  babe  bears  testimony  in  its  first  feeble 
conception  of  the  light. 

The  fact  that  so  much  literature  has  been  produced 
seeking  to  hide  the  simple  fact  of  personal  independ- 
ence is  more  proof  of  the  polity  purpose  of  the  pro- 
ducer, than  any  sincere  feelings  of  philanthropy. 
Modern  novels  professedly  for  moral  improvement, 
sincerely  meant  to  be  and  possibly  may  be,  are  still 
more  remarkable  in  seeking  to  show  the  dependency 
of  the  child  upon  abstract  education  and  the  necessity 
of  a  mediator  between  itself  and  its  Creator.  When  a 
person  shows  an  indifference  to  the  exemplification  of 
their  own  precepts,  such  cannot  hide  the  purpose  from 
observation  even  if  they  enjoy  a  temporary  elate  in 
attracting  followers.  Education  again,  may  establish 
a  surface  figure  of  moral  rectitude,  but  the  education 
that  reaches  the  inner  man  is  the  point  that  independ- 
ent personality  only  can  determine. 


124  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

In  a  friendly  discussion  judgment  should  be  re- 
served for  the  individual  consideration  of  a  possible 
audience.  Oratory  and  eloquence  are  brilliant  prod- 
ucts of  education  and  very  much  enhanced  by  abstract 
teaching;  the  exercise  will  attract  followers  who  mis- 
take wit  and  sarcasm  for  logic,  while  a  learned  man  to 
be  such  could  not  be  mistaken  in  the  arts  employed  to 
mislead  an  audience.  Polity  and  philanthropy  can  be 
contrary  motives  and  when  the  thoughts  of  others  are 
claimed  to  be  molded  by  the  influence  of  others  it  touches 
the  most  delicate  feature  of  education  which  its  economy 
would  reach  and  also  expose  any  motive  for  maintain- 
ing a  system  that  could  only  be  purchased  with  money. 
That  is,  a  refusal  to  consider  simple  methods  by  which 
all  classes  were  recognized  as  having  equal  opportu- 
nity, would  betray  the  polity  of  extravagance  and  ex- 
pose the  insincerity  of  seeking  to  educate  for  the  com- 
mon good.  To  educate  with  a  view  of  maintaining  ex- 
clusive relation  by  employing  natural  independence  for 
the  purpose  of  teaching  a  dependency  of  the  weak 
upon  the  mercy  of  the  strong  is  not  philanthropy  sim- 
ply because  it  is  possible  to  do  it. 

Natural  education  is  slow,  but  it  has  the  advantage 
of  being  inexpensive.  It  is  also  free  from  the  influence 
of  polity,  if  it  is  a  waste  of  time  against  the  quicker 
process  of  buying  education,  the  quality  would  have 
to  be  considered  by  a  comparison  of  the  two  systems. 
The  proposition  of  a  like  character  was  settled  figura- 
tively at  the  Tower  of  Babel,  but  the  conflict  between 
natural  education  and  its  abstracts,  or  the  literal,  is 
reserved  for  individual  independence  to  solve ;  other- 
wise progress  would  have  reached  its  limit  long  ago. 
The  independence  of  one  person  to  assert  a  fiat  of  au- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  I25 

thority  over  another  is  no  less  the  independence  of 
the  other  to  refuse.  It  is  an  equality  of  principle  that 
the  educated  must  concede  to  the  uneducated  if  they 
are  sincere  in  seeking  to  settle  disputes  without  blood- 
shed. 

The  continued  efforts  of  educators  to  invoke  the 
power  of  civil  authority  to  maintain  theories  while  the 
sublime  principle  of  education  is  refuting  the  effort, 
is  offset  by  the  silent  thought  of  the  masses,  independ- 
ent of  theories  in  their  dependent  relation  direct  to 
their  Creator.  Is  it  more  probable  that  God  will  for- 
sake the  weak  to  strengthen  the  strong  under  the  pres- 
ent order  of  things,  when  the  records  of  the  past  can 
be  read  free  of  expense,  while  theories  and  oratory  can 
only  be  obtained  at  great  cost.  A  person  needs  very 
little  education  to  read  the  Bible  independent  of  inter- 
preters, and  also  learn  from  history  that  oratory  could 
not  save  Rome.  Also  the  floods  of  oratory  poured  out 
to  conserve  the  fugitive  slave  law  were  powerless  to 
save  it. 

Independence  is  a  natural  trait  of  common  human- 
ity. It  is  a  contesting  principle  against  any  arbitrary 
rules  of  education  that  are  disguised  in  despotic  polity. 
The  weakest  specimen  of  humanity  is  the  more  readily 
enslaved,  but  the  fact  that  a  fugitive  slave  law  was 
necessary  shows  that  the  lowest  type  of  humanity  pos- 
sessed the  natural  disposition  of  freedom.  The  rela- 
tion of  education,  when  it  is  conducted  by  arbitrary 
rules,  to  the  principle  of  slavery,  needs  to  be  studied 
with  extreme  care,  and  the  prejudice  of  selfishness 
should  be  eliminated  from  the  study.  The  slave  of 
every  character  is  liberated  by  the  natural  desire  for 
independence,  and  courage  to  flee  from  bondage.     If 


126  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

arbitrary  education  enforced  by  legal  statute  is  only 
another  form  of  a  fugitive  slave  law,  it  should  be  dis- 
cussed in  the  open,  for  if  it  depends  upon  a  disguise 
of  purpose,  it  can  be  for  no  other  than  the  attempt  at 
least  to  compel  the  w^eak  to  serve  the  strong. 

The  virtue  of  righteousness  is  preserved  in  the  base 
or  lowly  of  humanity.  To  teach  a  child  an  obligation 
to  its  predecessors  for  knowledge,  is  an  effort  to  super- 
sede the  power  of  God  in  revealing  daylight  to  the 
child.  The  disposition  of  man  to  enslave  his  kind  is 
a  matter  of  record  that  letters  made  possible,  and 
since  the  chattel  slave  was  freed  by  his  own  courage 
to  flee  from  it,  the  disposition  to  command  a  service 
by  reason  of  a  superior  knowledge  takes  the  form  of 
education.  It  is  passing  strange  that  civilization  ad- 
vanced against  the  opposition  of  dominant  interests 
to  the  education  of  the  masses,  and  now  education  is 
made  so  expensive  as  to  practically  serve  the  same  in- 
terests. Independent  courage  to  flee  from  the  pitfalls 
that  nothing  but  experience  reveals  is  the  education 
that  progress  depends  upon. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  I27 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


OBLIGATION. 


lyJORAL  obligation  is  a  duty  of  self-preservation.  Its 
^^^  counterpart  would  be  suicide,  providing  it  was  a  de- 
liberate act  of  the  will.  It  is  an  open  question,  how- 
ever, for  speculative  psychology  to  determine  whether 
a  person  is  responsible  for  an  act  of  the  will  when  the 
same  speculative  effort  would  show  the  possibility  of 
molding  the  will  to  a  state  of  obedience  by  outside  in- 
fluence. If  the  child  is  under  obligation  to  the  parent 
and  the  parent  is  under  obligation  to  the  State  which 
in  turn  obtains  its  authority  by  its  own  fiat  of  divine 
decree,  obligation  would  therefore  rest  with  the  state, 
for,  to  the  extent  of  its  power  to  educate  the  will  of 
its  subjects  individual  obligation  would  cease.  This 
would  be  a  logical  conclusion  by  the  rules  of  educa- 
tors, but  if  two  measures  are  employed,  one  for  the 
teacher  and  another  for  the  taught,  the  salvation  of 
humanity  depends  more  upon  the  direct  relation  be- 
tween the  child  and  its  Creator  than  upon  any  state  or 
mediator  requiring  an  exceptional  rule  to  measure  its 
own  moral  obligations. 

It  would  be  a  mere  subterfuge  of  legal  acumen 
to  shift  the  responsibility  of  the  state  upon  the  people 
who  did  not  know  enough,  or  were  too  credulous  and 
timid  to  offer  any  defence.  This  discrepancy  between 
legal  obligations  and  moral  obligations  is  the  propo- 


128  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

sition  for  educators,  who  are  responsible  for  the  pres- 
ent school  system  to  consider. 

When  the  marvelous  advent  of  a  babe  with  its  or- 
ganic structure  is  the  object  of  consideration,  moral 
obligations  are  to  the  child  rather  than  from  the  child, 
but  the  touch  of  God  that  gives  it  life  is  from  the  same 
God  that  bestowed  the  touch  of  love  upon  the  parent. 
It  establishes  a  mutual  relation  bestowed  upon  the 
parent  and  child  both,  irrespective  of  any  education 
derived  from  literal  transmission.  That  is,  love  is  as 
natural  as  life  itself,  it  would  be  absurd  to  claim  that 
life  was  the  result  of  an  obligation  to  life  for  its  own 
sake.  Education  is  as  inseparable  from  evil  or  a 
"fall"  as  gravitation  and  the  privilege  of  a  child  to  ob- 
tain knowledge.  This  principle  of  deception,  educa- 
tion is  as  dependent  upon,  as  a  shadow  is  upon  light; 
and  moral  obligations  rest  upon  the  mutual  love  of 
parent  and  child.  Education  and  slavery  of  some  char- 
acter have  been  companions  since  letters  were  first 
invented.  Until  within  a  few  years,  to  dispute  the  in- 
terpretations of  the  Bible  established  by  civil  authority 
was  to  dispute  the  Bible  itself,  yet  the  Book  maintains 
its  inspiration  without  civil  authority.  That  is  to  say, 
it  maintains  its  own  law  independent  of  national  pro- 
tection, for  organized  governments  have  as  strenu- 
ously fought  to  destroy  it.  Men  may  organize  with  a 
declared  purpose  to  defend  the  Bible  and  equally  for 
the  purpose  of  defending  the  sunlight.  The  very  his- 
tory of  the  Bible  and  its  continuous  existence  is  evi- 
dence of  its  possessing  the  power  of  its  own  defence, 
showing  that  the  effort  to  defend  it  is  in  reality  the 
effort  to  evade  its  precepts.  The  relation  of  educa- 
tion to  moral  obligation  is  not  a  matter  of  legal  author- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 29 

ity  for  which  monarchies  have  fought  each  other  to 
determine,  but  all  in  vain.  The  effort  to  teach  moral 
obligation  is  as  impossible  as  to  improve  the  truth  by- 
establishing  a  system  of  education  to  first  teach  it  to 
be  possible,  and  to  believe  it  to  be  possible  would  only 
result  in  disappointment.  The  simplicity  of  education 
would  be  as  simple  and  self-revealing  as  the  Bible  if 
educators  who  know  it  to  be  a  fact  did  not  replace  the 
knowledge  by  the  pretence  of  benefitting  the  child,  by 
the  power  of  legal  control  over  the  parent.  It  is  this 
ability  to  take  advantage  of  ignorance  that  makes  it 
possible  to  convince  a  parent  that  a  child  is  obligated 
to  its  predecessors  for  its  future  happiness  and  moral 
obligation.  Because  knowledge  and  human  intelli- 
gence is  the  truth  and  education  a  principle  as  natural 
as  growth,  is  the  reason  it  can  be  appropriated  by 
dominant  interests  in  defiance  of  moral  obligations. 

The  same  light  that  reveals  the  duplicity  of  man  will 
also  reveal  whatever  good  qualities  he  may  possess. 
Also  the  privilege  of  art  is  a  common  inheritance  as 
indestructible  as  light,  yet  the  child  in  its  confidence 
can  be  taught  to  believe  in  proportion  to  its  fear,  by 
any  person  in  whom  it  trusts.  The  fact  that  confi- 
dence may  be  betrayed  shows  an  important  distinction 
between  natural  education,  guided  by  the  sublime 
touch  of  love  and  artificial  education  guided  by  com- 
mercial interests.  If  freedom  and  liberty  justifies  the 
deception  of  a  child  to  the  extent  of  depriving  it  of  its 
natural  judgment  beyond  a  possibility  of  using  its  own 
inner  conception  to  determine  what  obligation  means, 
freedom  would  be  a  sentiment  only,  and  slavery  of 
some  character  a  necessity.  The  slave  to  be  of  any 
value  to  his  master  must  be  obedient.     If,  therefore, 


130  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  theoretic  teaching  that  posterity  is  obligated  to 
its  predecessors  is  true,  chattel  slavery  was  a  virtue  in 
comparison  to  the  effort  to  make  slaves  responsible 
for  artificial  education  that  would,  if  true,  consign 
mankind  to  a  bondage  that  the  lowest  brute  is  free 
from. 

The  extravagant  system  of  artificial  education  is 
self-destructive  in  like  manner  to  all  methods  of  sla- 
very in  the  past.  Both  systems  of  oppressions  can  be 
justified  as  a  natural  necessity  to  the  enlightenment  of 
humanity.  Sincerity  even  cannot  escape  the  natural 
adjustment  of  the  mistakes  that  art  permits.  Reason, 
however,  is  not  an  artificial  production  and  if  the  mis- 
takes of  the  past  can  be  avoided  by  merely  changing 
the  method  of  oppression,  surely  reason  has  no  ground 
to  rest  upon.  It  is  not  necessary  to  dispute  the  power 
of  God  in  bestowing  specific  inspiration  upon  Christ 
or  His  sincere  followers.  It  is  more  to  the  point  for 
an  individual  to  determine  whether  he  is  willing  to  ac- 
cept whatever  inspiration  he  receives  as  free  as  the 
revelation  of  sunlight,  or  be  persuaded  to  pay  for  sec- 
ond-hand thoughts  and  remain  in  figurative  darkness. 

Literal  words  to  convey  second-hand  thoughts,  the 
specifically  inspired  are  just  as  dependent  upon  for  the 
distribution  of  such  thoughts,  as  the  babe  is  for  its 
inspiration  to  express  its  want  to  its  mother.  There 
is  no  monopoly  in  the  principle  of  inspiration,  regard- 
less of  any  special  inspiration  that  one  can  claim  for 
himself  or  declare  that  another  possessed.  It  is  literal 
words  artificially  made  from  the  human  discovery  of 
letters  that  designing  man  seeks  to  monopolize.  Such 
words  are  the  medium  of  conveyance  only,  they  pos- 
sess no  power  to  monopolize  inspiration  any  more  than 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I3I 

mechanical  tools  have.     All  instruments  made  by  the 
hand  of  man  are   artificial  whether  they  are  letters 
from  which  words  are  made  or  tools  from  which  ma- 
chines are  made;  therefore  in  either  case  the  power, 
call  it  inspiration  or  whatever  you  will,  it  is  a  revela- 
tion from  God  and  if  the  Bible  does  not  contain  the 
*'Word  of  God,"  it  does  not  contain  the  word  of  man 
who  is  dependent  upon  God  for  every  sound  or  mo- 
tion he  makes.    A  man  deifies  himself,  or  tries  to,  by 
proclaiming  that  the  Scriptures  are  not  the  Word  of 
God.     The  Bible  proves,    and    maintains    itself  against 
all  the  scholastic  effort  to  disprove  it.     It  is  simply 
idle  to  deny  an  existing  presence  by  the  mere  literary 
ability  to  convince  a    group  of    followers  that  what  is 
present  is  also  absent.    Education  can  cripple  the  men- 
tal organs  as  well  as  it  can  improve  them,  and  when 
second-hand  thoughts  can  be  forced  into  the  brain  by 
either  political  or  state  authority  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  a  person  so  afflicted  will  be  unable  to  use  his 
natural  constructive  faculties  to  make  a  thought  for 
himself.    That  a  person  can  be  mentally  murdered  and 
physically  exist  in  comparative  health  is  too  obvious 
a  fact  to  call  attention  to.     It  will  simply  show  that 
the  disposition    of  man  to   oppress    his  kind    is  just  as 
prevalent  to-day  as  when  chattel  slavery  was  legally 
protected.     It  is  the  disposition,  however,  that  con- 
cerns literal  education,  for  a  person  who  is  naturally 
born  free,  and  taught  to  believe  that  it  was  the  result 
of  artificial  education,  cannot  be  made  to  understand 
why  he  is    a  slave,    for    the    spiritual    instinct  of    free- 
dom is  from  God,  and  no  person  can  be  deprived  of 
that  by  any  process  of  education  that  the  genius  of 
man  ever  invented.     Just  as  fast  as  ignorant  laymen 


132  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

get  courage  enough  to  think  without  believing  they 
must  be  taught  what  to  think,  Biblical  controversy 
will  decrease  and  literal  education  will  be  simplified. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

TESTIMONY. 

O^ESTIMONY  may  be  withheld  at  the  option  of  the 
^  will ;  it  is  strictly  a  personal  privilege  to  make  decla- 
ration in  speech  or  by  the  art  of  letter,  the  propriety  of 
such  action  being  subject  to  the  influence  of  education. 
It  presents  an  alternative  between  duty  and  policy  in 
which  the  relation  of  natural  education  to  the  artificial 
is  involved.  The  alternative  of  choice  is  a  contingency 
over  which  neither  education  or  the  power  of  the  will 
has  any  command.  It  points  to  a  direct  relation  with 
God  that  all  the  literature,  the  art  of  letters  ever  pro- 
duced is  powerless  to  change. 

It  is  of  little  importance  whether  a  testimony  isJ 
adjudged  true  or  false  by  the  tribunal  of  state  set  up 
by  man,  when  the  unseen  court  of  the  individual  con- 
science knows  the  testimony  is  true.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary to  prove  to  the  second  person  the  reality  of  a 
personal  thought  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  thought 
exists.  If  this  important  feature  must  be  carefully 
withheld  from  persons  of  feeble  understanding  for  fear 
they  cannot  use  the  information  with   discretion,   it 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION.  1 33 

throws  a  responsibility  upon  artificial  education  that 
will  have  to  be  settled.  What  man  by  his  own  testi- 
mony will  assert  that  his  authority  should  be  obeyed 
by  reason  of  his  reputation  or  social  standing?  It  is 
often  declared  that  "liberty  is  not  license."  Is  repu- 
tation license  to  the  utter  extinction  of  the  principle 
of  liberty?  What  does  the  word  liberty  signify  if  none 
but  the  man  of  reputation  can  define  it?  Does  the 
child  have  to  be  taught  by  men  of  reputation  that 
sugar  is  sweet?  Does  a  person  require  a  license  be- 
fore he  can  exercise  his  natural  liberty  to  be  moral? 
When  educational  institutions  advertise  indirectly  to 
teach  etymology  in  such  exact  perfection  that  natural 
obligations  can  be  overcome,  it  may  be  profitable  and 
also  the  evidence  of  liberty,  but  the  point  is  for  the 
individual  to  consider  whether  artificial  morality  can 
command  the  Spiritual  or  natural.  If  a  person  must 
first  possess  ability  to  prove  a  testimony  before  it  is 
proper  to  utter  it,  it  would  be  equivalent  to  the  de- 
mand upon  a  child  to  prove  its  title  to  an  existence. 
What  proof  can  supersede  the  personal  presence  of  a 
man  seeking  for  words  or  signs  to  make  his  thoughts 
clear  to  another  person?  "Is  he  worthy  of  recogni- 
tion?" is  a  common  inquiry.  "We!"  but  who  are  "we" 
in  the  sight  of  God?  Did  Christ  ever  ask  a  person, 
giving  testimony,  if  he  was  worthy  of  confidence  with- 
out showing  a  diploma  endorsing  his  reputation?  It 
could  be  readily  answered  that  Christ  knew  whether 
a  petitioner  was  speaking  the  truth  or  not.  Very  well, 
but  did  the  privilege  of  testimony  cease  with  the  cruci- 
fixion? The  invention  of  letters  permitted  events  to 
be  recorded,  but  the  difficulty  of  determining  the  truth 
of  personal  testimony  is  just  as  distant  as  ever. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


134  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

A  priestly  apotheosis  depends  upon  testimony  as 
much  so  as  the  feeble  effort  of  a  babe  to  convince  its 
mother  that  it  had  fallen  out  of  bed.  The  babe  gives 
evidence  of  know^ledge  long  before  it  falls  into  the 
intricacies  of  etymology.  Whatever  authority  the 
state  possesses  it  cannot  escape  the  authority  of  God's 
government,  and  what  the  individual  wants  to  learn, 
is  the  conflicting  difference  between  two  rival  gov- 
ernments. It  could  be  vastly  simplified  if  educators 
had  no  other  motive  than  what  they  profess  to  have. 
Testimony,  however,  is  a  common  privilege  and  the 
"fall,"  the  first  known  method  by  which  knowledge 
was  revealed  to  the  human  race;  that  men  of  method 
have  fought  to  the  death  disputing  over  a  simple  testi- 
mony does  not  change  the  principle  of  testimony  as 
such.  Conflicting  testimony  presents  a  point  of  equal- 
ity in  the  principle,  by  which  the  testimony  is  con- 
structed in  the  mind.  It  is  in  the  inspiration  that 
suggests  the  thought  which  precedes  the  act  of  expres- 
sion. Because  an  object  suggests  different  thoughts 
to  different  persons,  it  simply  proves  the  personality 
of  testimony  rather  than  effecting  any  change  in  the 
object  perceived.  The  child  and  parent  are  objects  of 
each  others'  observation,  and  having  no  knowledge  of 
letters,  communication  must  from  necessity  be  natural ; 
and  if  the  parent  is  in  possession  of  the  art  of  letters 
the  situation  remains  the  same,  for  letters  are  a  blank 
to  the  child  who  has  no  means  of  conception  or  percep- 
tion other  than  natural  or  what  God  bestows  upon  it. 
Another  important  point  is,  the  parent  never  doubts 
the  testimony  of  the  child  in  whatever  form  it  is  ut- 
tered. 

Now  testimony  in  letters  or  written  words  is  just 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  1 35 

as  much  a  result  of  inspiration  as  the  natural  knowledge 
by  which  the  child  perceives  and  conceives  in  utter 
absence  of  a  knowledge  of  letters.  The  difference, 
therefore,  between  a  natural  testimony  and  that  which 
is  artificial  is  the  difference  between  the  truth  and  the 
sign  representing  it ;  not  that  the  sign  itself  is  false  to 
its  object,  but  the  possibility  of  it  is  the  matter  in 
hand.  That  is,  the  sign  can  be  changed  to  serve  the 
interest  of  man  or  that  of  the  state  and  the  credulous 
who  are  illiterate  can  be  misled  by  any  person  of  suffi- 
cient ability  to  win  their  confidence.  If  the  testimony 
of  a  child  is  more  reliable  than  that  of  the  artificial 
educator,  it  is  no  less  the  privilege  of  an  adult  person 
to  read  the  Bible  and  discover  as  much,  at  least,  as  a 
child  knows  who  could  not  read  it. 

The  difficulty  of  comprehending  literal  instruction 
makes  it  appear  that  knowledge  depends  upon  literal 
conveyance  or  perception  and  the  strenuous  care  by 
which  this  simple  principle  is  guarded  is  its  weakest 
link.  Pitfalls  can  only  be  avoided  by  education  except 
it  is  recognized  that  education  itself  is  a  pitfall  that 
depends  upon  relative  experience.  If  children  could 
be  compelled  to  accept  the  knowledge  of  predecessors 
exclusively  it  would  be  a  pitfall  of  utter  annihilation 
or  slavery  of  some  character.  Artificial  education  is 
limited  to  correction  of  the  evil  of  its  own  creation, 
for  the  balance  of  power  is  derived  from  the  natural 
education  that  the  parent  derives  from  the  child.  Hence 
artificial  education  is  constantly  digging  its  own  grave 
by  defending  the  state  as  an  instructor  when  its  natu- 
ral position  can  only  be  confined  to  the  protection  of 
the  freedom  of  art.  If  the  weak  testimony  of  the  babe 
can  be  trampled  upon  by  the  stronger  testimony  that 


136  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

art  makes  possible,  the  power  of  God  could  be  de- 
stroyed by  its  own  creation,  and  the  authority  of  love 
made  subordinate  to  the  power  of  its  own  effort.  The 
natural  fall  of  the  child  against  the  artificial  fall  that 
is  thrust  upon  it,  presents  a  conflict  of  authority  that 
love  only  can  overcome.  The  ability  of  art  to  present 
an  attraction  to  greed  or  the  lesser  desire  of  a  child  in 
proportion  to  its  weakness  makes  artificial  education 
responsible  for  the  evil  or  sin  charged  to  the  feeble 
child  or  ignorance  of  the  adult.  The  written  testimony 
of  Christ's  mission  on  earth  and  the  petition  of  the 
child  are  striking  parallels  in  comparison  to  the  fall 
of  Rome,  that  represented  the  power  of  art  and  also 
its  weakness.  What  is  art  in  comparison  to  the  power 
of  God,  to  open  the  lips  of  an  innocent  babe?  Arti 
ficial  conceit  in  contention  over  what  pertains  to  the 
Word  of  God,  when  every  babe  proclaims  it  by  its 
first  effort  to  exist,  is  the  vain  effort  of  scholars  to  dis- 
sect the  Bible.  For  what  purpose?  To  command  a 
following  or  to  sustain  a  declining  empire,  yet  Rome 
fell,  but  the  Bible,  compiled  politically  for  the  single 
purpose  of  maintaining  temporal  authority,  continued 
to  live. 

Testimony  may  be  oral  or  written,  natural  or  arti- 
ficial, true  or  false,  but  in  any  event  it  is  educational, 
while  the  point  of  authority  and  discernment  con- 
tinue to  be  a  matter  of  dispute.  Now  if  a  person  could 
be  persuaded  to  come  down  from  his  high  altitude  and 
lay  aside  his  "settled"  convictions  long  enough  to 
study  the  testimony  of  a  babe,  he  could  make  a  com- 
parison between  natural  language  and  the  artificial 
(literal).  The  words  of  the  babe  cannot  be  literally  in- 
terpreted because  they  are  the  direct  voice  of  God, 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I37 

for  the  reason  that  the  babe  has  no  knowledge  of  let- 
ters, but  nevertheless  it  is  in  communion  with  God 
sufficient  to  make  its  wants  known.  Such  a  study- 
would  be  parallel  to  the  effort  of  the  Roman  Empire 
trying  to  educate  natural  Christians  to  a  condition  of 
servile  obedience  by  teaching  literal  Christianity,  or 
what  would  be  practically  the  same  thing,  to  teach 
that  Christianity  depended  upon  literal  knowledge. 
The  clergy  of  the  Church  after  Christianity  was  na- 
tionalized knew  better,  by  reason  of  their  struggle 
to  make  the  transmission  of  spiritual  revelation  de- 
pend upon  literal  words.  The  testimony  of  a  peer  in 
scholarship  can  be  disputed  in  words  of  his  own  de- 
fining, but  the  point  is,  can  the  testimony  of  the  babe 
be  disputed?  It  is  by  no  means  new  that  it  would  be 
dangerous  for  the  common  people  to  know  anything 
that  was  not  literally  transmitted  to  them  by  their 
superiors,  previously  derived  from  predecessors.  But 
would  it  not  be  more  dangerous  to  posterity  if  the 
testimony  of  the  babe  was  disputed? 

Again  it  could  be  claimed  that  artificial  education 
supersedes  the  natural  or  at  least  corrects  it,  but  it  is 
as  old  as  the  literary  pirates  who  murdered  Socrates 
for  fear  education  would  become  too  common,  when 
it  was  well  known  that  they  could  become  tempted  by 
attractions.  Is  not  the  present  educational  system 
striving  to  accomplish  what  the  ancients  failed  to  do? 
That  is,  can  artificial  education  supersede  the  natural 
by  simply  making  the  artificial  so  attractive  that  the 
necessary  importance  of  the  natural  can  be  lost  sight 
of?  If  a  slave  can  become  trained  to  believe  that 
humble  obedience  to  another  person  in  his  own  image 
is  a  virtue,  it  is  parallel  to  believing  that  knowledge 


138  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

is  derived  from  our  predecessors.  That  a  sincere  be- 
lief can  become  crystalized  into  a  condition  of  ortho- 
doxy is  no  more  strange  than  that  men  distinguished 
for  scholarly  ability,  appeared  at  least,  to  be  sincere  in 
believing  it  to  be  right  to  claim  others  in  their  own 
image  to  be  property.  This  condition  treated  as  a 
fact  explains  why  scholars  of  equal  ability  will  dispute 
over  systems  of  education,  while  neither  would  admit 
that  natural  education  possessed  any  virtue,  and  still 
further  they  would  deny  the  right  of  laymen  to  discuss 
a  subject  of  which  they — professors — were  disagreed 
upon.  A  devotee  of  written  testimony  should  not 
overlook  the  very  principle  which  he  advocates.  The 
very  presence  of  the  written  testimony  makes  his  own 
but  the  shadow  derived  from  the  light  of  inspiration 
that  is  a  common  revelation,  or  the  writing  itself 
would  appear  absurd  in  view  of  his  exclusive  privilege 
to  interpret  it ;  for  otherwise  writing  in  a  common  lan- 
guage, would  be  an  anomaly  in  the  presence  of  a  per- 
son who  could  as  well  assert  his  exclusive  authority 
without  the  writing  as  with  it.  The  very  presence, 
therefore,  of  a  written  testimony  contains  its  own  in- 
spiration while  a  necessity  for  interpretation  would 
destroy  it.  It  brushes  away  the  persistent  effort  to  the 
simple  understanding  of  a  child,  and  cripples  its  natu- 
ral faculties  by  substituting  the  attraction  of  art.  The 
testimony  of  the  babe,  as  much  so  as  the  Bible,  is  an- 
chored to  the  reciprocity  of  love  that  even  state  auth- 
ority cannot  supersede.  The  child's  title  to  direct  in- 
spiration is  so  clear  by  reason  of  its  own  testimony  that 
it  even  supersedes  the  authority  of  the  parent.  The 
institution  of  the  state  or  any  collective  society  is  as 
art  to  nature  compared  to  the  testimony  of  the  babe 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I39 

inspired  to  open  its  mouth,  so  absolutely  independent  of 
art  that  art  itself  is  dependent  upon  the  principle  for 
its  deceptive  character. 

It  is  the  only  testimony  that  cannot  destroy  itself  in 
abstract  disputation.  Art  against  art  is  continually 
employed  in  digging  its  own  grave,  while  a  fact 
against  a  fact  is  like  two  drops  of  water  trying  to  iden- 
tify each  other,  when  as  a  fact  they  are  really  one. 
The  simplicity  of  Christianity  is  not  dependent  upon 
the  complexity  of  art  or  literal  interpretation,  for  the 
babe  gives  its  testimony  as  a  spark  of  fire  asserts  itself, 
and  only  from  the  reciprocity  of  love  from  the  same 
inspiration  by  which  the  babe  opens  its  mouth  would 
the  child  itself  be  tolerated.  Christianity  was  the  birth 
of  human  freedom  that  made  the  distribution  of  literal 
education  possible,  but  its  economy  is  the  contention  of 
art  to  prevent,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  pagans  and 
Jews  contended  against  Christianity. 


140  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


AUTHORITY. 


A  DUAL  authority  has  the  same  relation  to  education 
■^  as  Church  and  State.  It  confounds  the  confidence  of  a 
child  in  its  own  parents  that  it  may  learn  by  experience 
to  contend  against  the  most  brilliant  temptations  that 
art  makes  possible.  The  person  who  parades  his  ma- 
terial prosperity  as  evidence  of  superior  wisdom  falls 
by  an  authority  that  he  is  powerless  to  command.  Such 
a  person  may  become  flattered  by  a  multitude  of  fol- 
lowers who  have  become  specifically  educated  to  put 
all  their  faith  in  artificial  attractions.  The  child  that 
falls  by  the  natural  force  of  gravitation  is  also  provided 
with  natural  means  of  protection.  The  distinction, 
therefore,  between  Nature  and  Art  is  the  distinction  be- 
tween God's  authority  and  that  derived  from  the  art  of 
man.  Authority  that  seeks  the  protection  of  art  betrays 
its  superficial  weakness  in  comparison  to  the  Supreme 
authority  that  even  art  itself  is  compelled  to  obey. 
Civil  authority  has  never  reached  a  point  beyond  the 
possibility  of  so  crippling  the  mental  organs  of  a  child 
that  it  might  humbly  serve  a  specific  end,  either  a  good 
or  bad  government  as  the  case  may  be.  If  natural  man 
is  prone  to  evil  by  reason  of  his  privilege  to  develop 
the  instrumentality  of  art,  the  effort  to  so  disguise  the 
relation  of  Art  to  Nature  is  proof  of  evil  intentions.  No 
educated  man  could  be  such  or  maintain  even  the  label 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  I4I 

of  scholarship,  who  would  teach  that  the  error  of  Na- 
ture was  corrected  by  the  virtue  of  Art.  Yet  the 
most  civilized  governments  of  the  present  day  are  but 
modified  forms  of  the  heathen  who  endeavored  to  pro- 
tect their  authority  by  the  power  of  art. 

The  cardinal  principle  of  education  derives  its  auth- 
ority from  the  same  source  from  which  art  is  derived ; 
it  would  reasonably  follow  that  art  and  nature  could 
be  blended  together  for  a  united  purpose.  That  it  is  a 
theoretical  delusion  is  no  less  such  by  reason  of  the 
forcefulness  of  a  system  of  education  that  can  control 
the  mental  organs  of  a  child  that  it  may  grow  up  ut- 
terly blind  to  the  fact  of  which  God  designed  it  to  be. 
For  example:  If  an  instrument  of  art  in  the  hand  of 
another  can  break  the  legs  of  a  child,  the  fact  that  it 
has  legs  is  the  proof  of  what  the  legs  are  for.  It 
needs  no  theory  of  systematic  education  to  convince  a 
parent  that  the  child  is  inspired  by  an  authority  that 
the  parent  also  is  compelled  to  obey,  or  submit  to  the 
consequences  of  which  the  child  also  is  a  party.  A 
spark  is  no  less  fire  because  it  is  extinguished  in  seek- 
ing combustible  material  to  prove  its  ability  to  create 
a  flame.  A  theory  as  an  authority  to  establish  a  fact 
ceases  to  be  a  theory  the  moment  the  fact  is  estab- 
lished. 

When  it  is  recognized  that  the  great  multitude  of 
humanity  are  either  voluntary  followers  of  a  mere 
theory  or  compelled  to  follow  state  authority,  itself 
resting  upon  a  theory,  the  feeble  effort  of  a  child  un- 
armed by  the  instrumentality  of  letters  or  art  of  any 
character,  the  relation  of  education  either  mental  or 
physical  makes  its  predecessors  responsible  in  the 
sight  of  God  for   employing   the  art  of   education  to 


142  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

hide  from  the  child  its  clear  title  to  a  direct  communion 
with  its  Creator.  The  Bible  needs  no  interpretation 
to  discover  its  source  of  authority.  Scholars  can  dis- 
pute with  each  other  and  dissect  the  Book  from  a  the- 
oretic standpoint,  but  the  authority  of  the  Book  should 
engage  their  attention  before  they  are  compelled  to  flee 
in  like  manner  as  all  their  predecessors  who  have 
dared  to  assail  the  authority  of  the  Bible.  It  is  positive 
authority  from  even  a  theoretic  standpoint,  in  compari- 
son to  the  negative  authority  of  theory,  negative,  in 
the  sense  that  art  is  but  the  effort  of  man  to  imitate 
Nature  making  the  authority  of  man,  protected  even 
by  the  canon  of  theology,  subordinate  to  the  authority 
from  which  a  child  is  inspired  to  open  its  mouth. 

Because  the  feeble  understanding  of  a  child  can  be 
imposed  upon  is  no  greater  misfortune  than  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  "fall"  or  experience  before  knowledge  is 
possible.  The  natural  fall  is  in  proportion  to  the  feeble 
character  of  the  child,  but  the  greater  fall  that  the  at- 
tractions of  artificial  education  introduces  required 
moral  courage  to  resist. 

Christ  did  not  write,  "I  speak  with  authority,"  but 
His  authority  being  recognized  by  the  man,  whoever 
he  was  that  did  write  it,  makes  it  clear  that  authority 
is  not  invested  in  man  merely  from  the  artificial  ability 
to  write  it  in  the  third  person.  Does  not  the  babe 
speak  with  authority  when  its  first  effort  is  the  decla- 
ration, *T  am"?  ^  If  a  sub-authority  can  be  established 
by  means  of  artificial  education  which  can  be  so  at- 
tractive as  to  exhaust  the  ingenuity  of  a  figurative 
devil  it  is  further  evidence  of  a  "fall"  that  the  neces- 
sity of  acknowledging  the  difference  between  Supreme 
Authority  that  is  enforced,  and  the  sub-authority  set 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  I43 

Up  by  the  artificial  ability  of  man  to  maintain  domi- 
nant interests;  practically  selfishness,  the  most  suc- 
cessful pitfall  that  the  devil  can  control.  A  person  can 
be  sincere  or  apparently  so  at  least  in  mistaking  sub- 
authority  for  the  Supreme.  Particularly  when  it  is 
possible  to  so  exploit  the  mental  organs  of  a  child  as 
to  control  it  by  outside  influence  and  that  influence  is 
education  of  whatever  form  it  may  be  presented.  A 
pitfall  even  is  education,  and  to  first  win  the  confidence 
or  attention  of  a  person,  in  strict  regard  for  the  teach- 
ing of  psychology,  is  to  persuade  such  person  to  escape 
one  pitfall  by  jumping  into  another  of  greater  magni- 
tude. Is  it  strange  that  the  credulous  can  be  mis- 
guided when  the  teacher  disputes  with  his  peer  over 
the  relation  of  Supreme  Authority  to  the  sub-author- 
ity of  man.  It  is  so  simple  that  the  complex  system  of 
education  is  too  elaborate  to  focus  it.  For  that  rea- 
son sub-authority  can  maintain  a  fog  so  dense  that  the 
simple  light  bestowed  upon  a  babe  at  birth  can  be  ob- 
scured if  not  utterly  extinguished.  It  would  be  the 
height  of  folly  to  undertake  to  tell  another  what  he 
knows  to  be  a  fact,  for  knowledge  of  the  Supreme  or- 
der is  so  well  known  that  men  plunge  into  suicide 
rather  than  meet  the  consequences  of  what  they  know 
to  be  a  fact. 

When  it  is  recognized  that  a  babe  knows  more  than 
all  the  books  that  were  ever  written,  education  could 
become  so  simple  that  the  fog  of  contention  would 
disappear  like  a  cloud  that  obscures  the  sun.  It  does 
not  depend  upon  prophecy  so  much  as  it  does  upon 
personal  honesty.  The  system  of  education  is  yet  to 
be  instituted  that  will  recognize  a  simple  fact  without 
seeking   to   hide    it    in   complex   surroundings.      The 


144  THE    ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

theoretical  pretence  of  "uplifting"  fallen  humanity 
from  a  condition  of  natural  purity,  puts  the  "uplifted" 
to  shame  in  comparison.  Not  that  knowledge,  as 
such,  has  a  degrading  influence  but  instead  it  is  the 
unwillingness  to  recognize  the  Supreme  authority  as 
the  source  of  knowledge.  The  word  "uplifting"  sug- 
gests a  vainglorious  performance,  for  the  contempt  of 
authority  is  embraced  in  the  pretence  of  lifting  an- 
other up  by  first  crushing  the  will  to  make  assistance 
necessary. 

Authority  is  the  first  consideration  before  an  act 
effecting  another  could  be  reasonably  performed. 
Personality  is  too  distinctly  a  reality  to  overlook  the 
fact  that  authority  of  action  is  always  a  sacred  in- 
spiration. It  is  neither  a  doctrine  or  theory,  but  a 
fact  of  the  inner  man  that  no  person  can  deny  without 
admitting  it  to  be  a  fact  in  the  very  act  of  denial.  The 
most  abject  slave  could  not  be  deprived  of  his  personal 
title  to  his  inner  authority.  It  was  a  weakness  of  per- 
sonal effort  that  made  it  possible  to  enslave  a  person 
of  corresponding  image,  but  the  authority  is  the  mat- 
ter in  hand,  and  while  it  is  commendable  to  assist  an- 
other, such  self-assertion  calls  for  the  exhibition  of 
authority.  If  the  act  meets  resistance  by  a  corres- 
ponding authority  existing  in  the  person  of  another, 
a  very  nice  point  of  distinction  must  be  settled  before 
the  enforcement  of  authority  can  be  equitably  resorted 
to.  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth."  When  the  beginning  was  or  how  the  cre- 
ation occurred,  or  whether  creation  is  finished,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  verified  fact  revealed  to  every 
human  being  at  birth.  That  the  sentence  itself  is  the 
inspired  Word  of  God  is  true,  for  no  man  could  have 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I45 

written  it  without  being  inspired,  and  no  man  could 
have  read  it  without  being  inspired  also.  Is  every 
person  at  birth  inspired?  Is  every  birth  a  *'begin- 
ning?"  It  is  certainly  a  beginning  of  immediate  Ac- 
tion. This  problem  must  be  solved  by  the  recipient 
and  live,  or  be  rejected  and  die.  This  feature  is  im- 
portant for  educators  to  study  who  profess  to  be  sin- 
cere in  ''lifting"  the  people  up  from  their  grief  and 
sorrow  at  being  born  so  late,  since  all  the  command- 
ing authority  artificially  has  been  fully  exploited  by 
those  who  were  favored  with  a  previous  beginning. 

Posterity  in  debt  to  its  predecessors  for  knowledge 
is  what  artificial  education  is  dependent  upon.  A  spe- 
cial Providence  may  be  appealed  to  by  a  single  indi- 
vidual who  can  also  usurp  authority,  but  to  enforce 
his  own  fiat  he  must  be  supported  by  followers,  or 
his  declaration  would  be  treated  with  scorn  or  deri- 
sion. The  very  principle  of  education  would  have  to 
be  set  aside  if  it  was  a  fact  that  the  prerogatives  of  the 
past  were  the  source  of  knowledge.  A  subterfuge  in 
words  will  not  effect  the  principle  of  education.  On 
general  principles  it  does  not  effect  knowledge  to  quib- 
ble over  the  source  from  which  it  is  derived,  but  to 
maintain  a  consistency  of  authority  over  the  educa- 
tion of  a  child  which  gives  positive  evidence  of  inspi- 
ration and  knowledge  both,  is  to  elevate  the  parent 
and  the  state  above  the  authority  of  the  Almighty. 
Theories,  philosophy,  or  science  cannot  contend 
against  a  personal  presence.  It  therefore  reveals  a 
motive  to  whoever  cares  to  study  the  situation.  To 
assert  an  anxiety  to  discover  the  truth  and  then  play 
with  words  to  hide  the  discovery  from  a  fellow  man 
would  be  self-conviction  requiring  no  comment  at  all. 


146  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

A  prerogative  is  not  a  very  firm  foundation  for  author- 
ity to  rest  upon. 

What  is  necessary  to  discover  first  is  the  source  of 
knowledge  before  the  economy  of  education  should 
be  studied  at  all. 

Socrates  recognized  it,  Christ  taught  it  according  to 
written  records  which  are  authenticated  by  every 
babe  that  is  born. 

This  feature  of  positive  authority  is  more  remark- 
able for  its  absence  in  standard  text  books  than  for  its 
presence.  It  implies  either  ignorance  or  design.  It 
is  a  personal  privilege  to  take  either  position,  for  a 
person  cannot  be  ignorant  of  an  act  necessary  to  be 
designing.  Concrete  ignorance  can  only  be  known  to 
exist  after  a  little  abstract  light  is  thrown  upon  it. 
That  is,  a  light  is  necessary  to  reveal  what  darkness 
seeks  to  hide.  The  confidence  of  a  child  is  the  innate 
conception  of  love.  Of  all  sentiments  that  any  word 
was  ever  made  to  express,  that  of  love  is  first  and  su- 
preme. The  importance  of  treating  this  sentiment  as 
the  fundamental  principle  of  education,  is  necessary 
to  expose  the  glaring  pretence  derived  from  artificial 
education  to  make  the  sub-authority  of  art  equal  to 
the  absolute  authority  of  nature.  Because  a  child  or 
an  adult  can  be  deceived  by  this  darkness,  the  very 
darkness  relieves  such  persons  from  the  responsibility 
of  their  actions.  It  is  idle  to  make  rules  of  art  that 
depended  upon  light  before  such  rules  could  be  made 
to  condemn  the  innocence  of  darkness.  To  assert 
that  ignorance  is  to  blame  for  its  darkness,  is  equiva- 
lent to  asserting  that  a  child  is  to  blame  for  being 
born.  The  skill  of  etymology  will  never  atone  for 
the  dissimulation  that  education  makes  possible.    We 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I47 

have  education  and  its  abstract  as  well  as  authority 
and  its  abstract.  No  person  with  light  enough  to  hide 
the  principle  of  authority  in  its  concrete  form,  can 
escape  a  responsibility  for  modern  education  striving 
to  crush  the  innocence  of  childhood  in  teaching  a  de- 
pendence upon  its  predecessors  for  knowledge.  Utter 
darkness  only  could  justify  an  act  of  depriving  pos- 
terity of  an  equal  oportunity  of  its  predecessors. 

It  is  not  to  the  point  at  all,  that  theories  are  "set- 
tled" when  the  literate  exclusively  are  the  only  party 
to  the  settlement.  The  great  silent  multitude  are  en- 
dowed with  mental  faculties  from  which  thoughts 
are  produced  in  utter  absence  of  logic  or  philosophy. 
Hence,  because  sub-authority  can  be  literally  main- 
tained, can  it  be  morally  or  religiously  maintained 
against  its  own  source — the  authority  of  God — by 
teaching  children  that  knowledge  is  derived  from  their 
predecessors  to  cripple  their  understanding  with 
which  they  were  inspired  at  birth? 


148  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

RESPONSIBILITY. 

^HE  limit  of  art  is  to  correct  the  errors  of  art,  other- 
•*■  wise  the  greed  of  man  would  destroy  every  living 
thing  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  truth  existed  be- 
fore letters,  or  theology  and  science  in  searching  prin- 
ciples depending  upon  letters,  could  never  have  been 
born.  Because  art  made  a  hammer  and  also  a  letter 
as  a  mark  of  distinction  between  the  animal  and  the 
human,  their  use  became  a  personal  privilege  in- 
volving personal  responsibility.  The  hammer  can 
crush  the  head  of  a  babe,  and  the  letter,  a  no  less  frac- 
tious tool,  could  crush  the  mental  organs.  Society 
can  clamor  for  more  power  to  rule  the  destinies  of  hu- 
manity yet  responsibility  for  the  use  of  art  is  as  in- 
dividual and  personal  as  birth.  Society  is  only  a 
collection  of  personal  responsibilities,  and  whatever 
act  one  performs  with  a  view  of  making  another  re- 
sponsible for  it,  is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  evil  that 
humanity  has  to  contend  with. 

Since  letters  were  first  invented  writers  have  used 
them  to  record  their  disputes,  which  previously  de- 
pended upon  oral  tradition,  with  a  strong  probability 
that  only  a  few  were  preserved,  regardless  of  all  the 
writings  that  purport  to  preserve  them.  Since  sun- 
light first  revealed  itself  to  man  he  has  tried  to  make 
others    responsible   and   obedient   both.      It   was   the 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I49 

fundamental  principle  of  the  task-master  to  rule  by- 
fear,  and  also  the  rule  of  the  parent  who  was  trained 
or  broke  like  a  horse  to  service.  Because  a  parent 
can  be  forced  to  forsake  his  natural  love  for  his  off- 
spring by  reason  of  the  sense  of  fear,  it  is  no  more 
strange  than  the  dependence  of  a  babe  upon  a  fall  as 
the  only  known  method  by  which  knowledge  is  re- 
vealed to  it. 

Words  like  all  instruments  are  obedient  to  the  will 
of  man — the  intermediate  between  commerce  and 
structure.  Because  man  has  the  natural  ability  to 
make  a  sign  to  represent  his  thought  he  cannot  es- 
cape the  responsibility  of  such  an  act.  Also  because 
that  ability  enables  him  to  deprive  another  of  a  like 
privilege,  the  primitive  fact  is  inflexible.  To  deter- 
mine a  responsibility  for  sin,  evil,  and  oppression,  the 
category  of  instruments  becomes  quickly  exhausted, 
yet  the  sin  and  oppression  remain  as  undisturbed  as 
ever.  The  relation  of  a  "fall"  to  words  as  the  means 
of  obtaining  knowledge  would  throw  light  upon  re- 
sponsibility in  exact  proportion  to  the  willingness  to 
recognize  the  common  fellowship  of  humanity. 
Again,  to  use  words  to  formulate  objections  to  such 
fellowship,  myriads  of  them  could  be  found,  such  as 
descend  from  predeccessors  and  as  many  more  could 
be  coined  from  the  fruitfulness  of  the  human  brain. 

This  feature  makes  the  luster  of  Christianity  so 
obscure  that  babes  only  are  in  perfect  communion 
with  its  light.  It  is  so  positive  that  nothing  has  ever 
permanently  stood  between  that  Light  and  the  in- 
stitution of  personality  that  God  so  freely  bestows 
upon  the  earth.  It  is  not  a  vague  assertion,  but  the 
petition  of  the  babe  prior  to  the  introduction  of  the 
inventions  of  its  predecessors. 


150  .THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

This  fog  between  life  and  knowledge  is  acquired 
from  external  influences.  The  child  submits  in  pro- 
portion to  its  confidence  in  whoever  can  win  it;  but 
confidence  is  a  social  feature  of  life  distinct  from  re- 
sponsibility. It  is  knowledge  by  deputation  that  ob- 
scures like  a  fog  the  real  source  of  knowledge.  The 
most  learned  man  simply  betrays  how  little  he  knows 
when  he  attempts  to  prove  an  origin  of  knowledge 
in  any  sense  effects  the  individual  responsibility  for 
every  act  of  the  will.  That  this  is  a  well-known  fact 
attested  by  written  records  makes  a  child  more  de- 
pendent upon  the  honesty  of  its  predecessors,  than 
for  its  natural  acquirements  of  knowledge. 

The  child  being  early  taught  obedience  to  its  sur- 
roundings by  systems  of  ancient  and  modern  edu- 
cation, makes  the  system  responsible  rather  than  the 
child.  That  this  system  is  anti-christian  no  better 
proof  exists  than  the  Bible  itself.  Its  very  existence 
ing  to  be  authorized  to  transmit  the  teaching  of  the 
ing  to  be  authorized  to  transit  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible  to  posterity  is  assuming  a  responsibility  that 
the  Bible  severely  rebukes.  The  meager  proof  that 
a  single  individual  can  bring  for  or  against  the  Bible 
is  a  mere  straw  to  the  universe.  A  sincere  student 
will  recognize  the  truth  rather  than  search  for  meth- 
ods to  conserve  his  personal  convictions.  A  respon- 
sibility for  the  welfare  of  others  is  too  sacred  a  duty 
to  permit  of  the  least  evasion  to  conserve  an  abstract 
principle.  The  point  is  not  so  much  whether  know- 
ledge is  transmitted  by  deputation  as  it  is  to  determine 
the  source  of  knowledge,  or  whether  it  is  an  article 
of  commerce.  The  fact  that  a  child  is  born  a  respon- 
sible being  is   sufficient  authority   to   relieve   the   child 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I5I 

from  any  responsibility  for  events  of  which  its  pre- 
decessors are  familiar.  When  a  child  has  to  contend 
with  knowledge  by  deputation,  and  also  knowledge 
by  conception,  it  can  be  transformed  into  a  fiend  by 
a  deputy  of  knowledge  except  for  the  protecting  love 
of  its  parents. 

A  person  striving  to  protect  an  established  insti- 
tution will  devote  himself  to  the  end  in  view.  His 
very  orthodoxy,  however,  obscures  his  ideal  concep- 
tions from  the  view  of  others  who  are  only  attracted 
by  the  external  effort.  The  diamond  has  a  dull  worth- 
less surrounding  that  merely  hides  the  inner  luster. 
It  therefore  constitutes  a  condition  of  twofold  similar 
to  a  human  being.  Orthodoxy,  conservatism,  des- 
potic rules,  and  knowledge  by  deputy,  form  the  sur- 
rounding of  the  inner  luster  that  every  human  being 
possesses  or  he  would  be  no  object  of  consideration 
to  his  fellow  man.  Education,  even  as  a  concrete  or 
abstract,  would  have  no  scope  of  commerce  except 
for  the  external  obstruction  between  two  human  souls. 
The  situation  is  not  new  for  it  is  revealed  to  babes, 
or  our  predecessors  would  not  have  had  the  necessary 
ability  to  formulate  a  system  of  education  purporting 
to  lead  forth,  while  in  practice  it  seeks  to  maintain 
the  deputy  as  a  perpetual  mediator,  thus  denying  the 
original  source  by  which  education  was  possible. 

To  be  a  philosopher  of  any  remarkable  note  one 
must  first  prove  all  his  predecessors  to  have  been 
mistaken.  He  proves  even  more  for  he  condemns  him- 
self or  denies  the  march  of  progress.  Surely  a  man 
must  have  some  base  for  the  discovery  of  what  he 
might  be  pleased  to  call  "a  new  discovery."  Mere 
terms  are  obsolete  in  view  of  the  exposures  of  man's 


152  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

mistakes,  yet  to  discover  a  principle  is  to  admit  that 
it  previously  existed.  It  may  be  a  principle  of  great 
benefit  to  relieve  grief  stricken  humanity,  but  who  is 
responsible  for  the  privilege  of  experimenting  with 
children  to  prove  a  discovery  to  be  good  or  evil  as 
the  case  might  be?  Because  children  can  be  vic- 
timized by  a  system  of  education  the  children,  at 
least,  are  as  free  from  responsibility  as  the  ancient 
slave  compelled  to  serve  a  master. 

It  does  not  depend  upon  new  discovery  to  know 
that  knowledge  and  power  are  entailed  with  responsi- 
bility in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  knowledge  the 
person  might  be  endowed  with.  It  could  be  well  said 
that  to  shirk  a  responsibility,  it  were  better  not  to 
have  been  born.  Man  can  use  his  acquired  knowledge 
to  obtain  a  living  and  escape  what  is  termed  drudgery. 
He  may  be  skilled  in  methods  of  commanding  the 
service  of  others,  which  at  best,  in  the  absence  of  the 
servant  being  a  party  to  the  contract,  is  modified  slav- 
ery. Responsibility,  however,  is  an  individual  prob- 
lem that  cannot  be  detached  from  the  will  or  forced 
upon  the  will  of  another.  Institutions  of  learning 
may  be  multiplied  and  authority  be  exploited,  but  re- 
sponsibility will  continue  to  be  embraced  within  the 
action  of  the  will.  To  the  extent  the  will  is  broken 
or  crushed  to  a  condition  of  inaction,  responsibility 
ceases  or  the  law  of  God  would  be  subordinate  to  that 
of  man.  The  clinging  to  the  prerogatives  of  pagan 
literature  and  exploiting  its  beauty  to  preserve  the 
caste  system  that  the  writers  so  brilliantly  proclaimed 
confounds  the  understanding  and  gives  support  to  the 
present  effort  to  teach  the  necessity  of  a  deputy  to 
obtain  knowledge.     It  would  make  Christianity  a  mere 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  I53 

supplement  to  paganism.  It  presents  a  situation  of 
clinging  to  paganism  for  social  advantages  and  ac- 
cepting Christianity  by  reason  of  the  saving  grace  of 
Christ. 

Modern  education  is  an  abstract  principle,  con- 
trolled by  the  political  effort  of  the  entire  world,  is 
where  the  responsibility  is;  it  is  a  connivance  with 
the  devil  to  obscure  the  simplicity  of  Christianity. 
Credulity  can  be  imposed  upon  by  education,  and 
however  paradoxical  it  may  seem  it  is  the  only  meth- 
od by  which  a  credulous  person  can  be  set  free  and 
brought  to  realize  his  natural  right  to  his  own  con- 
ception. Education,  however,  as  a  concrete  principle 
to  its  abstract  is  as  life  to  death.  Every  device  known 
or  acquired  at  any  price,  has  been  searched  for  to  ob- 
tain and  hold  political  supremacy  over  the  innocent 
multitudes. 

The  Pharisaic  method  in  modern  education  is  the 
political  fog  that  surrounds  religion  and  social  order 
even.  It  holds  the  fallen  as  responsible  and  refuses 
assistance  until  the  victim  purchases  release  by  ad- 
mitting external  authority.  It  appears  generous  by 
the  brilliant  fog  that  surrounds  the  operation,  but  in 
a  great  majority  of  cases  that  only  a  few  can  attest, 
that  the  fallen  had  better  remain  such  than  accept  the 
assistance  that  modern  education  attracts,  that  ulti- 
mately leads  to  suffering  of  greater  dimensions.  That 
falls  and  temptations  are  the  first  principles  of  know- 
ledge does  not  fasten  a  responsibility  upon  the  fallen, 
but  in  the  natural  order  of  things  responsibility  is  just 
as  impossible  to  escape  as  knowledge.  Thus  to  mis- 
lead another  is  a  fall  to  both  leader  and  led,  with  re- 
sponsibility for  the  act  resting  upon  preceding  know- 
ledge. 


154  THE   ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 

The  vicarious  attitude  of  predecessors  is  no  less 
a  fact  than  the  birth  of  knowledge  which  is  essentially 
the  prime  feature  of  birth  itself.     But  of  what  value 
is  knowledge  derived  from  vicarious  assumption  if  the 
original   source    of   knowledge    could   be    continually 
defied  by  an  agent  who  usurps  an  authority  of  equal- 
ity with  a  common  Creator,  and  denies  a  child  its 
clear  title  to  an  advent  upon  earth,  as  clear  as  that  of 
his  own?     The  fact  that  Webster's  dictionary  cannot 
define  words  to  successfully  hide  the  imposition  of 
educators  in  taking  advantage  of  innocent  children;  it 
throws  the  responsibility  for  the  outrage  upon  who- 
ever knows  enough  to  deny  it.     No  one  need  to  go  to 
the    dictionary   to   learn   that   created   wisdom    could 
never  become  so  great  as  to  dictate  its  own  creation. 
If   special    messengers    are    vicariously   appointed    to 
protect  the   interest  of  abstract  society  the  limit  of 
God's  trust  in  his  own  creation  would  appear  to  be 
nearly  reached,  and  original  principles,  only,   would 
restore  society.     A  mere  literal  assertion  has  no  more 
effect  upon  the  truth  than  the  effort  of  a  man  to  com- 
mand a  babe  to  breathe.     This  original  communion  of 
the  babe  with  God  can  be  literally  disputed,  and  the 
fears  of  parents  can  be  appealed  to,  but  it  remains  to 
be  proved  whether  man  in  his  vicarious  attitude  ever 
earns  the  title  by  any  of  his  accomplishments.     Be- 
tween life  and  death  the  communion  of  spirit  is  in- 
violate.    No  literal  acquirements  can  deprive  a  person 
of  what  God  reserves  a  strict  command  over.     The 
point  of  command  between  direct  and  indirect  com- 
munion would  be  reasonable   in  view  of  knowledge 
which  is  undisputable  in  the  sense  that  it  is  a  self  re- 
vealing power.     The  anomaly  of  knowing  more  than 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  1 55 

knowledge  reveals  would  be  equivalent  to  a  know- 
ledge of  existence  prior  to  birth.  It  suggests  the  ac- 
tual difference  between  knowledge  by  intuition,  which 
is  as  direct  as  birth,  and  knowledge  by  tuition  from 
one's  predecessors,  which  is  indirect.  It  does  not  in 
the  least  disturb  the  intrinsic  character  of  knowledge, 
which  one's  predecessors  were  equally  as  dependent 
upon  as  their  birth. 

The  responsibility  for  the  present  social  misery  rests 
with  those  who  continue  to  maintain  a  system  of  tu- 
ition to  disguise  the  Christian  system  of  education, 
which  is  natural  and  intuitive,  while  tuition  depends 
upon  art,  and  the  prerogative  of  heathenism.  It  will 
continue  just  as  long  as  commerce  and  politics  can 
control  the  situation  by  frightening  the  individual  into 
a  state  of  submission. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


COMPULSION. 


THE  fact  that  a  babe  could  be  compelled  to  close  its 
mouth  by  human  agency,  while  the  power  to  open  it 
is  impossible ;  it  teaches  more  psychology  than  all  the 
institutions  of  learning  ever  accomplished.  That  this 
principle  is  as  common  to  animals  as  to  humanity  is 
no  reason  why  predecessors  should  continue  to  op- 
press whatever  is  too  weak  to  offer  a  resistance  to  the 
command  of  the  strong.  The  principle  is  as  old  as 
history,   for    which    the  martyrdom  of    Socrates  bears 


156  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

witness.  Also  what  is  reason  to  humanity  as  a  whole 
will  not  hide  the  obligation  of  the  adult  individual 
to  act  with  as  much  inner  sense  as  the  babe  or  calf. 
Because  commerce,  politics,  and  tyranny  are  the  cre- 
dentials of  predatory  predecessors,  it  is  no  reason  that 
individual  courage  should  be  compelled  by  mere  col- 
lective force  to  choose  between  martyrdom  or  sub- 
mission. The  child  will  show  a  keener  sense  of  wis- 
dom in  detecting  an  act  of  inconsistency  in  parent  or 
teacher  than  the  average  psychologist,  for  the  reason 
that  the  child  is  naturally  truthful  until  it  is  taught 
diplomacy  by  compulsion  when  the  inner  sense  is 
crushed,  and  example  will  be  followed  regardless  of 
the  science  of  etymology  in  teaching  precepts. 

That  collective  bodies  can  compel  obedience  by  either 
police  force,  its  Goliath  parade  is  powerless  to  com- 
mand the  inner  sense  of  a  single  individual  acting 
within  itself.  The  limit  of  compulsion,  therefore,  is 
confined  to  fright,  or  a  complete  destruction  of  the 
clear  title  that  the  child  receives  from  its  Creator. 
That  is,  by  philosophic  reasoning  the  only  justifica- 
tion for  predecessors  to  assume  compulsory  authori- 
ty would  be  to  counteract  whatever  was  natural. 
This  feature  of  compulsion  is  theoretic  to  the  extent 
of  involving  the  entire  political  history  of  the  world. 
Enough  has  been  written  upon  the  subject  to  supply 
a  volume  to  every  person  on  the  earth,  yet  the  petition 
of  the  child  is  as  unheeded  as  the  primitive  fall,  which 
no  age  has  been  willing  to  acknowledge  as  a  universal 
necessity, — a  necessity  so  obvious  that  no  person  can 
deny  it  without  casting  an  irreverent  reproach  upon 
his  own  conscious  existence. 

The  greed  of  man  is  just  as  indifferent  to  the  wel- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 5/ 

fare  of  children  as  it  ever  was.  Progress  and  civiliza- 
tion are  due  to  the  universal  order  of  Nature,  and  there 
is  no  reason  other  than  political  to  apply  two  words 
to  represent  one  idea  of  precisely  the  same  signifi- 
cance. Even  if  it  could  not  be  proved  that  the  words 
"Nature"  and  "God"  represent  one  idea,  it  is  equally 
true  that  it  was  never  proved  that  they  represent  two 
ideas.  This  important  condition  of  things  should  be 
made  clear  before  any  more  children  are  offered  a  sac- 
rifice to  commerce  and  polity.  It  is  due  to  the  pyersonnel 
of  religious  and  secular  teachers  that  the  obstructive 
character  of  dominant  interest  are  not  permitted  to  de- 
stroy themselves.  The  effort  to  compel  Nature  to  even 
assist  in  turning  the  wheels  of  progress  backward, 
always  results  in  humiliation  and  defeat  for  those  who 
persist  in  the  effort.  It  is  the  semi-educated  that  parade 
their  pretensions  with  a  sound  of  trumpet  in  imitation  of 
ancient  vandals,  that  throw  discredit  upon  real  scholar- 
ship, for  the  multitude  can  be  led  temporarily  by  noise 
and  external  parade.  Commercial  greed  and  political  or- 
ganizations are  really  in  control  of  the  present  edu- 
cational system. 

A  nation  that  is  obliged  to  resort  to  slavery  or  com- 
pulsion to  protect  the  life  of  the  state  is  a  self-con- 
viction of  its  own  corruption.  It  is  parallel  to  parents 
being  obliged  to  compel  obedience  from  their  children. 
If  the  parent  is  so  influenced  by  political  education  as 
to  disregard  the  natural  Teacher,  prompted  by  his 
own  experience  the  principle  of  compulsion  can  be 
cultivated  as  well  as  any  other  wickedness  until  it 
rarely  fails  to  destroy  the  child;  notwithstanding  all 
theories  to  the  contrary.  The  order  of  Nature  is  too 
universally  perfect    to  permit  of  a  child  being    com- 


158  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

pelled  to  love  its  parents,  when  the  very  sense  of  love 
was  directly  revealed  to  both,  as  a  protection  against 
the  possibility  of  hating  each  other  by  reason  of 
compulsion.  Compulsion  is  only  another  word  for 
slavery  and  its  product — war.  When  a  government 
in  like  manner  to  a  parent  has  to  compel  its  so-called 
citizens  to  protect  the  government,  it  is  pretty  con- 
clusive that  the  fault  is  with  the  government,  for  a 
man  is  never  so  gross  but  he  will  make  an  effort,  how- 
ever feeble,  to  protect  himself.  Hence  if  a  child  needs 
compulsory  education  to  respect  his  government,  it 
is  analogous  to  a  parent  compelling  a  child  to  hate 
everything  by  trying  to  teach  it  love,  since  it  was  born 
with  that  sense,  which  it  will  vigorously  defend  until 
its  physical  condition  and  will  is  broken  to  a  final  fin- 
ish. 

Human  duty  against  greed  has  been  discussed  to 
a  tiresome  limit,  simply  because  feeble  understanding 
can  be  compelled  to  submit  to  the  dictate  of  greed, 
but  the  Higher  Law  has  never  failed  to  punish  the 
greedy  and  when  the  children  are  sacrificed  to  satisfy 
such  greed  it  would  appear  that  the  weak  was  punished 
more  severely  for  their  minor  evils  than  the  strong 
were  for  evils  of  greater  magnitude.  It  is  a  mere 
fancy,  however,  for  one  has  only  to  observe  the  sui- 
cides, divorces,  and  inmates  of  crowded  asylums,  that 
aborigines  and  animals  were  never  compelled  to  suf- 
fer. The  vast  amount  of  literature  that  is  written  to 
prove  that  weak  intellect  and  the  defenceless  ignorant 
are  responsible  for  the  social  debauchery  of  persons 
who  were  educated  with  the  hard-earned  money  of 
their  parents  who  were  driven  to  despair,  it  should  at 
least  cause  honest  people  to  investigate  the  education 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  1 59 

direct  from  God  as  free  as  air  and  water  to  wild  animals. 
In  the  early  stages  of  literal  education  it  was  just  as 
much  a  polity  to  prevent  the  masses  from  learning 
the  power  of  knowledge  as  it  is  now  to  compel  them 
to  be  educated.  The  fact  that  polity  controls  the 
present  situation  should  open  the  eyes  of  a  moder- 
ate thinker,  for  a  neglect  of  duty  will  destroy  a  faculty 
of  the  brain  as  much  so  as  the  disuse  of  a  limb.  Even 
specific  education  will  accomplish  the  same  trick  after 
the  subject  is  controlled  by  the  object.  It  accounts 
for  a  great  many  mysterious  effects  when  the  cause 
is  hidden  regardless  of  expense.  The  principal  cause 
is  as  ancient  as  Greek  sophistry,  which  is  to  teach  that 
a  subject  is  dependent  upon  an  outer  object.  This 
can  be  literally  proved  when  words,  like  children,  can 
be  compelled  to  serve  a  political  end.  It  is  neverthe- 
less just  as  false  as  what  present  text  books  are, 
which  are  selected  by  political  authority  to  teach  pos- 
terity an  obligation  to  their  predecessors,  for  the  ed- 
ucation that  every  human  being  is  naturally  ambitious 
to  acquire.  It  is  not  all,  for  words  bear  witness 
against  themselves. 

The  pagans  to  whom  text  books'  compilers  claim  to 
be  indebted,  were  remarkably  skilled  in  teaching 
magic.  History  may  be  mere  fiction  but  it  bears  wit- 
ness against  itself  like  literal  words.  Words  being 
so  extremely  elastic  and  so  susceptible  of  convenient 
definitions  that  it  required  skill  commensurate  with 
the  ambiguity  of  words  to  follow  even  a  brief  dis- 
course. It  is  of  little  account  at  present  whether  a 
discourse  is  dry  or  dense  for  the  present  system  of 
compulsory  education  is  more  devoted  to  teaching  the 
strict  letter  of  obedience  to  those  who  make  a  business 


l6o  THE    ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

of  doing  the  thinking  for  others, — practically  a  com- 
plete surrender  of  the  subject  to  the  object.  It  is 
extremely  difficult  however,  for  theory  to  keep  the 
truth  in  the  rear,  for  science  is  a  vigorous  opponent, 
besides  it  will  not  yield  to  second-hand  thoughts.  It 
is,  therefore,  important  to  know  that  immediate  knowl- 
edge and  mediate  knowledge  are  not  on  good  terms 
with  each  other.  It  really  means  direct  knowledge  in 
dispute  with  the  indirect.  This  has  no  meaning  to 
those  who  have  forgotten  how  to  think  their  own 
thoughts  or  distinguish  the  difference  between  the 
thoughts  of  an  object  rehabilitated  in  the  subject,  who 
was  born  with  a  clear  title  to  immediate  thoughts.  It 
makes  a  great  difference  to  whoever  has  thoughts  to 
sell,  while  the  subject  is  just  as  well  satisfied,  in  fact 
such  a  subject  who  cannot  see  the  difference  betrays 
a  fact  that  his  will  has  become  thoroughly  broken. 

The  real  proof  of  immediate  knowledge  is  experi- 
ence, which  can  be  as  immediately  disputed  in  rela- 
tive words  alleged  by  polity.  What  is  experience, 
however,  to  a  subject  is  only  theory  to  its  object,  and 
the  objection  of  a  psychologist  and  a  metaphysician 
to  the  ground  principles  of  experience  is  an  extremely 
narrow  form  of  polity.  Nature  forbids  what  theory- 
tries  to  prove,  that  man  can  apotheosize  himself  by 
his  own  fiat,  or  what  would  be  the  same  thing,  that  his 
credentials  of  authority,  and  privilege  to  command 
and  compel  an  obedience  was  derived  from  his  pre- 
decessors. It  is  at  this  point  that  polity  suggests 
ways  and  means  to  manipulate  words  to  convince  a 
subject  its  subordination  to  its  surrounding  objects. 
Polity  would  starve  to  death  if  it  was  other  than  a 
temporal  power,  for  to  prey  upon  children  for  com- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  l6l 

mercial  profit  is  parallel  to  the  worst  form  of  piracy. 
Could  the  child  speak  in  self-defence  it  would  declare 
itself  the  recipient  of  a  clear  title  from  God  before  it 
came  in  contact  with  the  compulsory  power  of  any  ob- 
ject. That  a  person  will  not  accept  this  proof  shows 
distinctly  that  he  sacrifices  his  birthright  to  his  greed, 
or,  to  take  another  view  of  it,  if  he  was  compelled  to 
yield  his  will  from  the  disposition  of  his  predecessors 
he  is  irresponsible  for  his  acts. 

Compulsion  has  no  jurisdiction  over  Nature  regard- 
less of  all  its  legal  tenets ;  and  as  far  as  literal  words 
can  prove  anything  it  could  be  observed  that  compul- 
sion was  limited  to  obstruction  or  complete  destruc- 
tion for  the  reason  it  only  has  the  power  to  destroy  a 
living  being,  but  not  the  power  to  prevent  the  being 
from  a  natural  defence  of  returning  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  God  rather  than  to  be  compelled  to  surrender  his 
clear  title  to  the  source  from  which  it  was  re- 
ceived. If  the  protection  of  polity  is  of  more  import- 
ance to  society  and  incidentally  the  state  than  moral 
rectitude,  to  escape  such  a  tyrannical  position  suicide 
is  the  only  alternative  to  protect  one's  own  personal- 
ity, would  be  justifiable. 

Doctors  of  medicine  claim  there  is  always  hope  with 
life,  also  spiritual  doctors  claim  it  is  never  too  late  to 
mend.  It  would  appear  therefore,  that  a  broken  will 
could  be  mended,  and  doubtless  it  could  be,  but  it  must 
be  as  miraculous  as  birth  itself.  This  would  prove  the 
recorded  miracles,  and  also  the  "new  birth,"  which 
no  one  could  dispute  without  betraying  that  his  own 
will  was  broken.  What  makes  the  principle  of  com- 
pulsion possible,  people  are  ever  seeking  an  abstract 
truth,  while  the  truth  will  not  permit  itself  to  be  mu- 
tilated. 


l62  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

To  Study  the  economy  of  education,  or,  what  is  still 
better,  to  practice  it,  would  tend  to  expose  the  polity 
of  etymology  and  also  that  of  psychology;  neither  of 
which  are  true  sciences,  because  the  former  is  based 
upon  the  abstract  of  natural  language,  and  the  latter 
is  also  a  mere  supplement  to  the  science  of  physics, 
having  no  claim  in  truth  to  the  "science  of  mind,"  that 
is,  as  between  the  subject  and  object,  for  it  is  exclu- 
sively the  property  of  the  subject,  and  only  compre- 
hended by  experience. 

Nature  is  constantly  exemplifying  the  supreme 
power  of  activity  so  regular  and  universal  that  every 
effort  to  analyze  its  power  by  finite  beings  has  resulted 
in  failure.  It  is  one  of  the  Providential  blessings  that 
no  form  of  compulsion  can  obtain  a  foothold.  Man 
having  the  power  of  will  is  punished  for  a  disregard  of 
the  conditions  that  the  power  entails.  Therefore  who- 
ever compels  a  person  who  is  not  a  voluntary  party  to 
the  contract,  receives  the  punishment,  if  history  is  a 
reliable  witness.  The  stereotyped  objections  to  natu- 
ral purity  of  action  is  due  to  the  science  of  physics 
which  acts  in  the  direction  of  the  least  resistance. 
The  physical  weakness  of  a  child,  or  any  race  of  hu- 
man beings  unable  to  defend  themselves  were  con- 
sidered the  legitimate  property  of  the  strongest.  Early 
science  was  studied  more  in  the  interest  of  the  mo- 
nopoly of  knowledge  than  with  any  purpose  of  social 
reform.  Progress  was  only  recognized  as  a  means  of 
conquest  or  defence.  The  study  of  science  and  philo- 
sophy began  to  reveal  the  relation  of  a  common  hu- 
manity, when  mental  activity  was  aroused  in  like 
manner  to  the  revelation  of  knowledge  to  a  child  by 
coming  in  contact  with  outside  objects.    This  was  the 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  163 

very  stimulus  of  science  and  philosophy  to  settle  the 
relation  of  a  subject  to  its  object.  Experience  had  no 
means  of  defence  in  comparison  to  the  objective  uni- 
verse when  the  vanity  and  ostentation,  of  which  man 
seems  to  be  naturally  endowed,  have  never  since  had 
such  an  opportunity  for  display.  It  was  of  the  same 
order  that  a  child  displays  when  it  discovered  it  could 
walk.  The  very  writings  of  the  ancients  are  the  evi- 
dence that  the  writers  knew  more  about  the  truth  than 
they  were  willing  that  the  general  public  should  know. 
It  is  a  serious  fact  that  the  natural  sense  of  morality 
has  to  deal  with,  just  as  much  at  the  present  time  as 
when  Greek  scholars  advocated  the  destruction  of  in- 
fants for  fear  learining  as  a  popular  acquirement  would 
endanger  the  stability  of  the  state.  Slavery,  serfdom, 
and  the  feudal  system,  are  all  embraced  in  the  word 
compulsion,  which  has  no  more  moral  authority  than 
the  early  slave  trade. 

It  could  be  hoped  that  compulsory  education  is  the 
last  form  of  slavery  that  the  greed  of  man  will  be  able 
to  institute.  Similar  to  chattel  slavery,  however,  it  will 
continue  as  long  as  parents  are  willing  to  submit  to 
it.  The  natural  force  of  defence  is  the  empirical  fea- 
ture of  a  subject  against  the  compulsion  of  its  object. 
When  parents  discover  their  children  are  being  con- 
signed to  divorce  courts  and  bar-rooms  they  will  for- 
sake the  evil  which  is  analogous  to  the  primitive  fall ; 
the  evil  will  then  pass  to  be  engrossed  on  the  pages  of 
history. 


164  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


OSTENTATION. 


\  N  active  person  must  be  either  ostentatious  or  empiri- 
cal, for  there  is  no  escape  other  than  death,  so 
called,  but  in  reality  a  return  of  the  component  parts 
constituting  the  power  of  sense  existence  revealed  by 
knowledge — God — from  the  touch  of  experience.  It  is 
not  in  the  power  of  words  to  analyze  experience,  it  is 
the  communion  of  God  that  is  strictly  empirical. 
Psychology  attempts  to  do  it,  but  it  goes  no  farther 
than  empiricism  without  embracing  ostentation — a 
mere  parade  of  words  mutilated  by  the  science  of 
polity. 

Psychology  is  a  science  of  theory,  and  the  fact  that 
theory  is  not  true  until  it  is  proved  to  be  such  by  ex- 
perience makes  psychology  an  ostentatious  parade 
second  only  to  the  pretension  of  the  metaphysical.  It 
is  the  liberty  of  experience  to  define  words  even  in  de- 
fiance of  the  datum  of  etymology,  or  activity  would 
cease  and  posterity  would  become  so  passive  that  ex- 
perience would  fail  to  wake  the  babe  into  a  condition 
of  consciousness.  Hence  the  transitory  dictum  of 
predecessors  is  the  very  pitfall  that  posterity  must 
fall  into  and  recognize  the  empirical  privilege  of  de- 
fence. The  teaching  of  psychology  in  public  schools 
under  the  pretence  of  teaching  a  child  to  think  betrays 
the  real  purpose  which  is  to  cultivate  ostentation  until 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  165 

the  power  of  the  will  becomes  sterile.  The  fallacy  of 
pretending  to  teach  a  person  to  think,  or  to  educate  the 
sense — the  consciousness — can  only  be  accomplished 
by  hiding  the  truth  instead  of  recognizing  its  activity, 
which  needs  no  assistance,  for  it  is  as  immutable  as 
time  and  space.  Whatever  words  that  are  used  to 
qualify  the  truth,  are  derived  from  the  pagans.  They 
were  so  numerous  as  to  suggest  their  purpose  was  to 
transmit  a  method  to  posterity,  by  which  the  common 
people  could  be  subjected  to  perpetual  slavery. 

It  is  not  enough  to  declare  a  purpose  of  good  toward 
the  rising  generation  when  concrete  principles  are 
neglected  at  the  behest  of  polity,  or  for  the  prospect  of 
a  better  salary.  It  is  a  very  delicate  problem  for  a 
teacher  to  teach  his  own  conscience  not  to  recognize 
mere  shades  of  meanings  to  words  when  they  are 
shaded  to  mislead  those  who  could  be  better  led  by  a 
more  simple  form.  Public  schools  and  libraries  are 
flooded  with  pagan  sentiments  in  direct  opposition  to 
Christian  literature.  They  appeal  to  vanity,  pride,  os- 
tentation, and  expectations  of  obtaining  something  for 
nothing ;  all  in  the  name  of  morality.  They  are  a  wit- 
ness against  themselves,  but  the  evidence  is  a  blank  to 
the  victims  of  so-called  culture,  that  only  appears  on 
the  surface  after  imagination  is  cultivated  to  transcend 
reality.  As  some  very  prominent  writers  say:  "Teach 
the  child  to  love  the  truth."  There  is  no  greater  disap- 
pointment in  adult  life  than  the  discovery  that  one's 
confidence  in  childhood  was  betrayed  by  ideal  fancies. 
It  is  the  pitfall  again  that  one  must  fall  into  before  the 
real  truth  can  be  experienced — sense — knowledge.  It 
was  a  heathen  fancy  that  tried  by  the  mere  manufac- 
ture of  words  to  transcend  the  truth  and  teach  that 


l66  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  imagery  of  thought  was  a  specific  revelation.  It 
can  be  so  attractive  that  victims  who  escape  a  prema- 
ture grave  become  passive  and  apparently  uncon- 
scious of  the  destruction  of  their  natural  faculties. 
Teachers  may  be  broad-minded  and  empirical  in  their 
oral  teaching,  but  the  confusion  of  a  child  when  he  is 
compelled  to  decide  for  himself  between  the  truth  as 
taught  and  his  natural  faculties  to  construct  imagery 
of  thought,  leads  him  into  unnecessary  pitfalls.  What- 
ever is  profitable  to  a  business  will  be  slow  to  yield  to 
Christian  precepts  regardless  of  the  sacrifice  of  chil- 
dren. 

However  poorly  a  thought  may  be  expressed,  the 
etymology  of  words  does  not  change  the  empirical  vir- 
tue of  the  thought.  One  prone  to  seeing  faults  in 
others  betrays  a  touch  of  ostentation,  even  if  it  appears 
to  the  perception  that  it  is  for  the  other's  good.  It  is 
an  extremely  delicate  operation  to  reprove  another  di- 
rectly to  the  person,  for  there  is  always  a  correspond- 
ence of  spirit,  if  not  of  understanding.  A  correspond- 
ence of  definite  signs  or  words  had  better  be  estab- 
lished, for  to  find  fault  with  another  merely  reflects 
one's  own,  regardless  of  prominence  or  literal  acquire- 
ments. A  recognized  teacher  of  any  character  who  is 
confined  to  precedent  or  rules  of  antiquity,  would  be 
patronizing  ostentation,  showing  a  strong  attachment 
to  the  principle,  reflecting  also  upon  the  Christian  prin- 
ciple of  empiricism.  A  teacher  that  betrays  a  com- 
manding spirit  over  children  entrusted  to  his  care  will 
ingenerate  anger  and  hate.  In  fact,  the  attempt  to 
cultivate  a  willingness  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
another  reflects  the  antiquated  difficulties  of  all  na- 
tions of  the  earth,  leading  to  defence  of  a  more  or  less 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  1 6/ 

violent  character.  The  child  has  an  empirical  title  as 
well  as  the  teacher;  to  establish  correspondence  with 
a  child,  it  requires  a  reciprocity  of  equality;  the  mere 
pretence  of  it  will  not  deceive  the  child,  for  it  knows 
more  than  it  can  express,  and  the  teacher  that  cannot 
learn  from  a  child  is  not  fit  to  teach  anything, 

A  teacher  in  touch  with  the  divine  principle  of  em- 
piricism— the  sovereign  right  of  the  individual — can 
defy  the  polity  of  man  which  depends  for  existence 
upon  the  temporal  character  of  ostentation.  The 
proof  is  experience,  against  the  effort  of  greed  to  de- 
fend the  prerogative  of  predecessors  which  has  caused 
all  the  wars  since  the  15th  century,  from  the  refusal 
of  dormant  interests  to  acknowledge  the  private  judg- 
ment of  person ;  the  very  essence  of  Christianity ;  also 
the  ground  upon  which  the  "reformation"  was  possible 
that  Luther  was  courageous  enough  to  defend.  To  be 
concise  and  brief  about  this  situation, — religion  and 
education  constitute  a  concrete  principle  so  absolute 
that  its  abstract  can  only  be  maintained  by  the  policy 
of  civil  governments  controlled  by  greed  and  domi- 
nant interests.  It  is  commercially  profitable  in  either 
case,  whether  education  is  secular  or  religious,  for  that 
reason  the  great  mass  of  people  are  misinformed  by 
the  manipulation  of  words  and  their  numerous  defini- 
tions, the  word  spirit  is  divided  and  sub-divided  to  dis- 
tort philosophical  controversy,  to  prevent  the  people  at 
large  from  comprehending  that  they  were  the  real  sub- 
ject involved.  The  skill  of  the  idealist  is  the  most  pop- 
ular form  to  convince  the  people,  of  whom  some  may 
be  semi-educated,  that  experience  was  transcended  by 
a  special  inspiration,  practically  disqualifying  the  word 
knowledge  and  all  words  contingent  to  spirit. 


l68  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

The  study  of  dynamics  is  parallel  to  psychology  the 
merest  pretence  of  analyzing  "moving  forces."  The 
principle  is  so  abstruse  that  the  laity  is  not  expected 
to  comprehend  it.  In  fact  the  discussion  of  the  prin- 
ciple is  more  to  prevent  the  laity  from  comprehending 
the  science  than  to  enlighten  them.  If  this  is  not  true 
simpler  methods  of  teaching  the  relation  of  force  to 
objects  in  motion  could  at  least  be  considered,  regard- 
less of  the  source  from  which  the  suggestion  occurs. 
It  is  not  new,  which  the  martyrs  of  the  past  bear  si- 
lent witness.  The  credit  is  due  to  the  person  who  rec- 
ognizes the  principle  rather  than  the  person  who  calls 
attention  to  it,  for  instance :  Knowledge  is  God,  the 
eternal  force  of  all  things.  Christ  preached  and  exem- 
plified that  God  was  spirit,  which  anyone  can  deter- 
mine by  his  own  experience,  which  is  Knowledge, 
and  the  only  power  by  which  the  Bible  can  be  read 
and  not  understand  it  is  to  admit  a  sterility  of  inani- 
mate force,  equivalent  to  a  living  death,  or  the  motion 
of  inanimate  matter  that  can  always  be  traced  to  the 
spirit  motor — God.  It  would  be  idle  to  call  attention 
to  all  the  ideal  attributes  that  philosophers,  after  dis- 
puting each  other,  pass  out  of  notice  by  disputing 
themselves,  and  all  about  the  relation  of  one  to  the 
many. 

To  transcend  experience  with  a  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  super-truth  is  an  attempt  to  dispute  God. 
The  nearest  approach  to  it  is  theory  and  tentative 
analogy.  No  book  was  ever  written  with  more  care 
than  "Butler's  Analogy,"  and  he  only  found  the  em- 
pirical end  to  be  the  end  from  which  he  started,  that 
is,  he  could  not  determine  which  end  was  the  begin- 
ning, or  which  was  the  final  end.    He  demonstrated. 


THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  169 

however,  that  it  was  impossible  to  prove  that  a  theory- 
was  false,  when  it  was  not  alleged  to  be  other  than 
speculative.  His  respect  for  personality  and  that  of 
private  communion  with  God  was  conspicuous  in  his 
own  life  and  all  his  writings.  He  acted  empirically 
to  the  extent  of  his  experience,  and  to  separate  God's 
government  from  civil  government  was  not  possible 
for  him  to  do,  for  the  reason  that  civilization  had  not 
reached  an  experience  to  understand,  by  the  necessity 
of  comparison  to  be  conscious  of  anything  that  the 
spiritual  character  of  the  Bible  was  distinct  from  its 
material  construction.  That  good  conduct  often  ap- 
peared to  be  unrewarded,  while  vicious  conduct  ap- 
peared to  prosper,  revealed  distinctly  that  Butler  had 
no  data  other  than  his  own  private  experience  that 
spiritual  reward  or  punishment  was  distinct  from  the 
material  punishment  enacted  by  a  civil  government. 

The  all-important  consideration  is  to  comprehend 
what  is  knowable  without  intruding  irreverently  upon 
the  unknowable.  To  know  spirit  by  social  correspond- 
ence is  confined  to  signs  and  symbols.  It  is  different 
with  the  unit  of  society — person — who  always  super- 
sedes society  by  being  in  direct  communion  with  spirit, 
which  the  babe  attests  by  its  absolute  defiance  of  con- 
tradiction. That  the  inspired  writers  of  the  Bible  had 
this  simple  fact  in  view,  the  Bible  itself  bears  witness. 
If  it  were  kindly  agreed  to  lay  aside  the  sentiment  of 
ostentation,  greed,  and  evil  purpose,  and  recognize 
God  as  a  spirit  embracing  all  force  and  the  absolute 
Motor  of  all  motion,  the  multitude  of  function  and 
series  of  faculties  including  matter  at  apparent  rest 
could  be  reasonably  compared  to  time  and  space.  It 
would  simplify  correspondence  and    social    harmony 


lyo  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

with  such  who  were  willing  to  recognize  God  as  the 
One  to  the  many,  without  drifting  back  into  ostenta- 
tion. That  the  attributes  of  force  are  so  diligently 
studied  for  the  sole  purpose  of  discovering  a  difference 
between  God  and  force — Motor  and  movement — 
cause  and  effect — establishes  an  indestructible  prin- 
ciple of  growth  and  progress.  Growth  would  be  im- 
possible in  the  absence  of  some  Motor  to  generate  the 
necessary  movement  that  growth  distinctly  reveals. 
Man  as  the  instrument  or  agent  of  such  motion  has 
never  been  able  to  manufacture  the  force  that  was  tem- 
porarily assigned  to  him  in  the  regular  order  of  Na- 
ture. It  is  this  self-acting  principle  that  philosophers 
and  scientists  try  to  transcend  in  dispute  of  each 
others'  imagination,  for  ideal  thoughts  are  just  as  de- 
pendent upon  spirit  or  force  as  substance  is  for  space 
to  move  in. 

A  fastidious  objector  could  see  in  the  fact  that  man 
being  only  an  agent  or  instrument,  proved  that  man 
had  no  empirical  authority  to  an  individual  judgment 
or  independent  act.  It  should  be  observed,  however, 
by  any  person  with  courage  enough  to  dispute  an- 
other, that  he  betrayed  by  his  own  act  that  neither  he 
or  his  opponent  were  sub-agents. 

It  might  appear  as  a  good  evidence  of  ostentation  to 
contend  against  so  eminent  authority  as  Herbert 
Spencer,  but  he  gave  evidence  of  empiricism  in  his 
effort  to  raise  the  doctrine  of  Evolution  to  the  supreme 
height  of  the  truth.  To  substitute  one  theory  for  an- 
other is  to  encounter  the  same  difficulty,  and  when 
the  principle  of  empiricism  is  the  object  aimed  at, 
theories  will  always  remain  theories.  However  emi- 
nent a  person  may  become  as  a  result  of  learning  and 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I7I 

ability,  to  analyze  social  conditions  synthetically  he 
must  have  forgotten  his  own  childhood  in  his  appar- 
ent willingness  to  surrender  his  title  to  his  own  one- 
ness to  the  authority  of  the  many.  His  remarkable 
zeal  to  justify  a  dependence  of  posterity  upon  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  experiences  obtained  by  predecessors 
would  appear  to  account  for  the  entire  absence  of  any 
recognition  of  a  direct  relation  to  God  that  every  liv- 
ing thing  or  the  most  minute  atom  of  matter  is  de- 
pendent upon.  If  respect  to  God  was  of  minor  import- 
ance to  the  instituting  of  a  doctrine,  depending  upon 
speculative  philosophy,  Spencer's  works  were  a  com- 
plete success. 

To  appropriate  natural  growth  derived  wholly  from 
the  activity  of  Nature,  and  by  the  mere  manipulation 
of  terms,  seek  to  prove  that  mediate  knowledge  can 
supersede  the  immediate,  is  the  exact  reason  why 
philosophers  fail  in  discovering  the  end  they  start  for. 
That  it  cultivates  the  mental  faculties  prodigiously 
will  not  compensate  for  a  neglect  of  the  moral  sense 
that  is  born  to  every  person  who  exhibits  knowledge 
enough  to  sense  their  own  existence.  That  morality 
is  a  sense  as  well  as  the  sense  of  love,  regardless  of  the 
limitation  of  sense  to  five  faculties,  is  entirely  an  indi- 
vidual privilege  to  determine.  If  a  child  can  be  fright- 
ened in  childhood,  it  is  the  natural  danger  that  con- 
scious life  entails,  but  it  is  not  the  fault  of  any  living 
being  in  its  defenceless  state,  that  it  is  destroyed,  but 
when  a  person  has  intelligence  enough  to  display  os- 
tentation, he  is  responsible  for  any  indifference  that 
he  parades  by  proclaiming  the  dependence  of  a  child 
upon  the  ostentation  of  its  predecessors. 

Spencer's  practical  endorsement  by  inference,  if  not 


172  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

direct,  was  plain  enough  by  his  evasion  of  the  relation 
of  Spirit  to  force,  or  what  he  was  pleased  to  call 
"motion."  It  would  have  been  more  simple  to  have 
attributed  all  motion  to  a  Motor,  than  to  study  the 
ripples  of  water  or  the  flutter  of  leaves  and  the  wav- 
ing of  grass,  also  the  surprise  of  a  child  that  could 
throw  a  ball  into  the  air  and  wonder  what  made  it 
come  back.  All  philosophy  is  remarkable  for  seeking 
to  protect  the  prerogative  of  the  past  in  regard  to  the 
protection  of  the  many  against  the  danger  of  being 
overpowered  by  the  defenceless  babe.  In  a  speculative 
sense  it  is  a  mere  illusion  to  classify  force  or  separate 
it  from  the  unknowable  spirit  or  Motor  that  motion 
itself  teaches  to  any  who  are  willing  to  study  it.  The 
effort  to  maintain  a  quality  to  force  by  mere  termi- 
nology could  be  observed  by  studying  such  terms  as : 
"Intelligent  force,  brute  force,  spiritual  force,  physical 
force,  and  natural  force."  These  forces  are  the  prin- 
cipal ones  that  relate  to  the  inheritance  derived  from 
predecessors  to  obstruct  the  evolution  of  a  child  rather 
than  to  render  it  any  real  assistance. 

If  force  possesses  varied  qualities,  upon  which 
particle  of  matter  has  a  particular  quality  of  force  the 
privilege  to  act?  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  own 
words  says :  "Matter  is  indestructible,  contrary  to  the 
illusion  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  who  held  that  matter 
could  be  annihilated."  Shakespeare  is  quoted  as  using 
terms  signifying  his  conviction  that  matter  could 
cease  to  be.  The  point  is,  matter  being  established 
and  motion  the  predicate  of  matter  being  admitted  by 
Spencer,  what  does  man  purpose  to  accomplish  by  set- 
ting up  an  ideal  establishment  against  one  that  he  can- 
not first  annihilate?  The  Greeks  showed  less  ostentation, 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 73 

for  they  would  first  annihilate  matter  to  prove  their 
power  to  be  equal  to  God.  With  motion  and  matter 
conceded  as  immutable  the  Motor — God — and  man  the 
instrument  or  agent  (not  a  sub-agent)  surely  there  is 
no  room  in  space  for  a  man  to  construct  a  scheme  of 
evolution,  even  if  he  possessed  a  special  quantity  of  in- 
telligence capable  of  signifying  an  ideal  conception  of 
such  a  scheme.  The  quality  of  matter  and  motion 
would  as  reasonably  exist  in  the  original  as  to  contend 
that  predatory  man  has  improved  it,  taking  his  own 
records  that  he  leaves  behind  him  for  proof. 

The  perfection  of  matter  and  motion  being  estab- 
lished, whether  man  is  willing  or  not  to  recognize  it, 
it  only  remains  to  admit  it  gracefully  and  avoid  if  pos- 
sible, cultivating  a  fastidious  attitude  that  is  limited 
to  a  very  small  circle  of  vision.  Besides,  one  may  dili- 
gently try  to  avoid  ostentation,  but  it  will  crop  out  on 
the  surface  to  keep  one's  courage  in  active  service,  not 
unlike  the  child  who  cannot  be  taught  to  walk  even, 
except  for  its  intuition  of  perseverance  to  overcome  the 
natural  necessity  of  falling,  or  a  contact  with  some  ob- 
ject to  teach  that  the  faculty  of  consciousness  was 
within.  The  fastidious  objector  could  insist  that  the 
object  encountered  by  the  child  was  its  predecessors 
in  accumulated  experiences,  which  justified  the  object 
in  claiming  precedent  over  the  subject  by  teaching  it 
fear  and  humilitating  obedience  that  would  be  liable 
to  precipitate  a  continuity  of  falls  beyond  the  intuitive 
strength  of  the  child  to  overcome,  when  the  fall  would 
become  chronic  with  the  child  until  it  conquered  its 
perseverance  and  the  will  would  be  broken. 

There  is  plenty  of  subject  matter  to  teach  a  child  in 
the  present  state  of  dominant  society  without  intrud- 


174  THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

ing  upon  the  direct  intuitions  of  the  child  that  repre- 
sents the  establishment  of  matter  and  its  predicate. 
Call  it  whatever  name  a  fastidious  critic  may  choose, 
the  fact  cannot  be  successfully  overcome,  that  a  child 
is  a  perfect  being  in  comparison  to  its  predecessors. 
It  certainly  has  no  appearance  of  evil  in  comparison, 
that  he  is  forced  to  bear.  The  complacent  follower 
observe  in  its  predecessors.  It  is  therefore  very  unjust 
toward  the  child  to  formulate  an  ideal  theory  that  it  is 
dependent  upon  its  environments.  It  must  mean  that 
the  child  is  dependent  for  its  wickedness,  while  society 
is  being  slowly  improved  by  the  influence  of  the  child. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


INFINITE    FORCE. 


11  TORAL  duty  is  so  dependent  upon  what  constitutes 
^^^  perfect  force  that  man  no  sooner  comprehends  it  than 
he  seeks  by  its  aid  to  obstruct  or  command  his  entire 
surroundings.  To  concede  the  intrinsic  virtue  of  force 
is  no  more  than  man  will  be  compelled  to  submit  to 
whether  he  is  willing  to  or  not.  It  is  therefore  more 
in  the  interest  of  the  chronic  grumbler  who  can  only 
see  that  his  contemporaries  are  to  blame  for  all  ills 
that  it  will  by  the  force  of  circumstances  be  obliged  to 
escapes  all  the  little  anxieties  about  what  moves  a  leaf 
or  what  conveys  the  song  of  a  bird  to  his  organ  of 
hearing.     He  would  advise  all  his  friends  to  observe 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 75 

how  happy  he  was  by  simply  enjoying  his  surround- 
ings that  other  people  acted  so  foolish  about. 

But  when  ambitious  leaders  and  dominant  political 
interests  become  in  a  state  of  contention,  the  item  of 
force  is  practically  forced  upon  the  indifferent  fossil 
equivalent  to  stirring  a  protoplasm  of  his  brain  that 
had  never  been  shocked  into  activity  by  any  previous 
fall.  To  anticipate  the  activity  of  Spirit  would  be  as 
absurd  as  seeing  without  something  to  see.  The  ideal- 
ist, however,  would  declare  that  he  could  see  the  image 
of  objects  that  were  not  externally  presented  to  view. 
If  he  could  describe  the  image  it  would  be  an  admis- 
sion that  he  had  previously  perceived  the  object  either 
in  part  or  a  whole,  contributing  a  material  structure. 
If  it  cannot  be  proved  that  force  is  the  Motor  of  all  mo- 
tion, whether  it  be  chemical,  mechanical,  or  attractive, 
its  homogeneous  character  is  the  feature  to  be  consid- 
ered. It  would  be  too  tedious  to  examine  every  minute 
object  in  motion  in  a  cotton  factory,  including  an 
annex  for  manufacturing  a  variety  of  metal  goods  re- 
quiring intricate  machinery,  for  the  purpose  of  analyz- 
ing the  homogeneity  of  force;  a  more  economical 
method  would  be  to  trace  the  series  of  motion  as  a 
whole  to  a  common  motor  which  is  the  power  of  heat 
to  generate  motion  in  correspondence  with  the  tem- 
perature. The  all-important  fact  is  that  force  is  an 
unknown  principle,  but  none  the  less  true  because  it  is 
embraced  in  the  unknown.  The  persistent  continuity 
of  force  that  constitutes  the  predicate  of  all  matter  in 
motion  will  not  permit  the  use  of  such  a  meaningless 
term  of  expression  as  "live  matter,"  yet  this  is  what 
philosophers  and  scientists  insist  upon,  while  they  pro- 
claim a  purpose  of  finding  the  truth. 


176  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

If  it  is  more  important  to  protect  dominant  interest, 
always  conservative  and  rebellious  against  any  contra- 
diction to  the  prerogatives  of  antiquity  and  settled  con- 
victions in  anything  relating  to  the  one  and  the  many, 
the  truth  will  be  passed  by  in  the  interest  of  greed.  If 
force  and  matter  had  been  recognized  as  the  synthetic 
truth  by  Spencer,  he  would  not  have  been  obliged  to 
analyze  mysteries  (or  try  to)  by  mistaking  motion  for 
force  and  convey  the  inference  that  force  and  truth 
could  only  be  obtained  from  those  who  were  learned 
in  science;  for  to  admit  that  force  is  Spirit  would  be 
equivalent  to  cultivated  society  surrendering  to  the 
mercy  of  mobocracy.  Again,  if  the  truth  cannot  be 
trusted,  it  would  be  parallel  to  a  conviction  that  God 
could  not  be  trusted  until  all  phenomena  were  revealed 
to  man. 

If  the  truth  cannot  be  proved  to  be  false,  by  modern 
learning,  it  would  be  more  reasonable  to  trust  the  old 
truth,  that  God  has  continued  to  reveal  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  of  which  fact  the  present  bears  witness. 
There  is  no  immediate  danger  from  present  appear- 
ances that  the  pleasure  of  expectation  will  be  destroyed 
by  reason  of  nothing  to  expect.  Prophets  are  more 
willing  to  declare  their  foreknowledge  of  events  in 
minute  details  after  the  event  occurs  than  before.  Also 
if  expectations  could  be  verified  by  science  and  analogy, 
no  force  or  Spirit  or  faith  would  be  of  any  use,  when 
experience  could  be  demanded  or  rejected  according  to 
one's  personal  desires. 

Supposing  evolution  to  be  true,  which  is  as  self-evi- 
dent as  the  continuity  of  natural  activity,  the  pitfalls 
that  are  being  constantly  dug  for  posterity  to  fall  into, 
would,  if  they  could  be  persuaded  to  fall  into  them,  lift 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.    ,  177 

the  veil  of  pretended  virtue,  but  the  activity  of  Nature 
is  too  persistent  and  regular  to  be  overpowered  by  the 
privilege  of  organizing  to  dictate  a  division  of  labor  in 
accord  with  a  pretension  that  more  is  due  to  so-called 
''mental  force,"  than  what  is  also  termed  "physical 
force"  by  the  fiat  of  man,  who  is  ever  seeking  his  own 
interest  in  whatever  direction  it  is  the  least  resisted. 

People  who  are  trained  to  believe  that  truth  is  re- 
vealed to  them  indirectly,  would  naturally  cling  to 
their  belief  and  satisfy  their  material  desires  as  the 
principal  end  in  view,  but  however  much  men  try  to 
prove  to  the  contrary,  truth  is  force ;  and  to  prove  any 
diflference  between  God — Nature — Force — and  an  in- 
telligent consciousness  of  existence,  is  what  man  has 
never  succeeded  in  proving.  This  being  admitted  specu- 
latively even,  it  leads  to  a  conclusion  that  quantity  is 
not  quality.  The  science  of  terminology  can  be  so 
skillfully  treated  that  a  thought  can  be  established  in 
another  person  in  proportion  to  different  definitions 
given  to  words.  A  correspondence  of  thought  between 
two  persons  is  both  simple  and  difficult,  by  the  mere 
use  of  words  to  convey  ideas.  The  most  skillful  use 
of  policy  is  to  disguise  its  presence  either  in  talking  or 
writing;  for  that  reason  individual  organs  were  impar- 
tially bestowed  upon  every  active  being  to  protect 
them  against  the  policy  of  their  surroundings,  includ- 
ing the  entire  accumulated  learning  of  predecessors. 
It  is  with  no  purpose  to  attempt  to  criticise  the  great 
mass  of  recorded  learning,  but  to  call  attention  to  the 
organism  of  individual  creatures  of  every  description 
which  are  provided  with  some  means  of  defence,  and 
to  capture  such  creatures  the  best  policy  would  be  to 
disarm  them.     Terminology  is  purposely  arranged  in 


178  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

connection  with  etymology    to    destroy    the    natural 
thinking     functions    of   a     person    and    institute    the 
thoughts  of  others.     That  the  brain  was  so  organized 
to  be  a  receiver  and  transmitter  both,  it  would  prove 
there  was  no  moral  authority  for  teaching  that  indi- 
rect thoughts  were  superior  to  such  as  are  never  led 
direct.     In  fact,  tuition  can  only  be  superior  to  intuition 
until  the  natural  is  voluntarily  replaced  by  the  artificial 
— the  real  policy  of  terminology.    Before  it  could  be  ac- 
cepted that  there  is  no  varied  quality  to  force,  regard- 
less of  its  variety  of  applications,  one  would  have  to  re- 
call the  thoughts  of  their  own  childhood,  and  study  the 
action  of  an  infant  before  it  becomes  corrupted  with  sur- 
rounding objects.     It  would  be  a  personal  privilege  to 
exercise  "private  judgment,"  the  principal  issue  between 
nations  and  the  great  number  of  organizations  forming 
the  very  purpose  of  collective  groups,  either  aggressive 
or  defensive.     All  the  military  and  naval  forces  of  the 
earth  could  not  deprive  a  person  of  the  privilege  of  pri- 
vate judgment;  yet  nations  have  declared    war  against 
each  other  because  one  or  the  other  would  not  admit  the 
clear  title    revealed  to    every    babe    that  is  born.     Be- 
cause a  person  will  not  admit  it,  is  no  reason  that  it  is 
not  true. 

It  would  not  be  necessary  to  study  evolution  if 
natural  facts  were  accepted,  for  evolution  is  a  natural 
fact  that  will  not  be  set  aside  by  any  ideal  structure 
that  the  variety  of  adult  man  build  upon  a  foundation 
of  theory.  Henry  Drummond,  F.  R.  S.  E. ;  F.  G.  S., 
admitted  that  it  had  been  distinctly  proved  that  mat- 
ter was  dead;  after  admitting  this,  however,  he  was 
not  so  willing  to  admit  that  Spirit  was  void  of  sub- 
stance which  he  was  obliged  to  hold,  in  order  to  pro- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  179 

tect  his  evolution  convictions.  Without  discussing 
this  matter  in  detail,  it  is  only  necessary  to  show  how 
difficult  it  is  to  maintain  a  pet  theory  wthout  disputing 
its  most  important  feature,  for  if  matter  of  itself  was 
not  spiritualized,  how  could  life  be  materialized  suffi- 
ciently to  be  evolved  or  extended  to  a  condition  of 
correspondents?  Correspondence  must  mean  a  unity 
of  two  equal  parts  or  it  has  no  meaning  at  all. 

Because  force  and  matter  are  synthetic  according  to 
individual  experience,  it  is  irreverent  to  use  this  force 
in  an  effort  to  transcend  oneself.  Is  it  not  enough  that 
this  force  is  self-revealing  without  trying  to  cultivate 
a  degree  of  superiority  for  the  sole  purpose  of  treating 
another  in  one's  own  image  as  an  inferior?  No  claim 
is  made  here  that  such  is  the  fact,  but  there  is  some 
reason  why  Spirit,  force,  and  natural  activity  are  spe- 
cialized in  accord  with  the  different  qualities  of  matter, 
of  which  Spirit  and  Force  are  necessary  contingents. 
The  point  is,  God  is  not  both  good  and  evil.  He  is 
designated  as  Spirit  because  spirit  is  an  invisible  force, 
which  is  just  as  much  the  privilege  of  one  to  affirm  as 
another  to  deny. 

It  is  not  a  doctrine,  or  new  religion,  but  an  old  truth, 
that  even  theories  depend  upon,  however  hard  the 
devoted  idealist  works  to  find  some  other  ground  to 
build  upon.  Such  a  person  can  ridicule  empiricism, 
pantheism,  and  fatalism,  but  it  merely  demonstrates  a 
skill  in  terminology,  it  has  no  effect  upon  thought 
which,  to  be  a  thought,  it  must  be  contingent  upon  an 
invisible  Force  which,  if  not  God,  it  is  no  disrespect 
to  believe  it,  considering  it  to  be  universally  admitted 
that  God  is  omnipresent.  Obedience  to  whatever 
command  a  self-elect  "superior"    designates    to  a  so- 


l8o  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

called  "inferior,"  will  not  hold  in  reason  unless  words 
are  defined  to  mean  whatever  is  convenient  for  the 
superior.  The  laity  are  supposed  to  think  just  what 
they  are  taught  to  think.  A  silent  thought,  however, 
is  a  communion  of  spirit  that  no  method  has  been  dis- 
covered by  a  self-elect  superior  to  prevent.  Examples 
are  becoming  so  common  that  even  children  who  are 
commanded  to  keep  silent  discover  they  are  master  of 
their  own  thoughts. 

It  is  less  difficult  to  show  the  policy  of  maintaining 
a  specific  quality  to  force,  when  it  pertains  to  mental 
movement,  than  when  it  is  drawn  upon  for  muscular 
movement.  An  amount  of  force  can  be  designated  to 
be  a  pound,  and  as  force  has  no  other  property  than  to 
move  things,  where  can  the  difference  be,  when  the 
pound  of  force  is  used  to  develop  the  protoplasm  of 
the  brain,  or  to  develop  the  muscles  of  the  body.  It 
should  be  observed,  however,  that  the  difference  is 
very  great  if  it  is  taught  to  a  child  that  God  is  the  di- 
rection of  force,  instead  of  the  fact  directly  revealed  to 
a  babe  that  God  is  Force  itself. 

Such  terms  as  lower  and  higher  types  of  man  are 
extremely  ambiguous,  having  no  authority  other  than 
the  doctrine  of  mythology,  based  upon  ideal  thought. 
In  assuming  this  profound  attitude,  men  betray  a  dec- 
laration of  self-election,  the  mere  declaration  also 
that  mythology  is  a  relic  of  the  past  by  giving  the 
same  principle  a  new  name.  The  effort  to  disguise  a 
meaning  is  good  evidence  that  something  is  hidden. 
From  whence  is  this  authority  to  designate  men  as 
either  of  high  or  low  estate?  It  must  be  either  immu- 
table dust,  or  eternal  Force,  or  myth.  The  fastidious 
again  have  always  a  word  in  opposition  to  anything  of 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  l8l 

a  civilizing  character,  by  asserting  that  intelligence 
transcends  experience  and  force.  Such  a  person  re- 
quired to  give  a  reason  for  such  a  declaration,  will  in- 
variably reply  that  he  was  educated  to  believe  it. 
Thus  we  have  myth  the  same  in  principle,  only  clothed 
in  a  new  dress.  It  is  thus  brought  to  the  individual 
faculty  of  thought  (call  it  mind,  brain,  or  force)  to  de- 
cide whether  his  own  title  to  life  is  defective,  or 
whether  the  transmission  of  others'  thought  by  means 
of  language  makes  such  thoughts  superior  to  his  own. 
It  is  not  in  judgment  of  others  that  this  idea  is  ad- 
vanced, but  rather  to  show  that  whoever  has  discov- 
ered the  difference  between  myth  and  fact,  is  in  duty 
bound  to  suggest  it  to  others. 

Experience  is  not  transcended  a  fraction  by  any 
process  that  man  has  been  able  to  assert,  or  that  any 
existing  records  have  ever  proved.  The  Force  to  assert 
is  also  the  force  to  deny,  and  the  fact  that  thought 
precedes  an  act  of  the  will  is  a  common  inheritance, 
that  the  indirect  assertion  of  man  has  no  jurisdiction 
over.  The  myth  consists  in  appropriating  a  natural 
fact,  and  then  trying  to  sell  the  recipe  to  the  weak  and 
credulous.  The  principle  of  ideal  transcendentalism  is 
balanced  by  the  same  Force  that  permits  one  to  de- 
scend in  the  exact  proportion  to  which  one's  ideals  may 
transcend.  "The  transcendence  of  a  thought"  is  an 
ambiguous  term,  it  is  a  mere  figure  of  speech  invented 
by  the  heathens  and  repudiated  by  the  Spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  polity  and  greed  make  the  term  convenient 
to  frighten  the  weak,  and  make  one  believe  that  God  or 
Force  ever  created  man  out  of  matter  and  Spirit  in  dif- 
ferent types  or  in  degrees  of  quality ;  when  all  man  has 
discovered  since  records  were  preserved  is  Matter  and 


1 82  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

Force.  The  incidentals  from  experience  are  too  nu- 
merous to  review;  the  principal  ones  of  an  intrinsic 
importance  are  virtue,  love,  morality  and  intelligence, 
none  of  which  can  be  externally  taught  because  they 
are  all  revealed  to  man  at  birth.  The  institution  of 
education  as  a  cardinal  principle  is  limited  to  the  teach- 
ing of  the  counterpart  of  what  is  directly  revealed  at 
birth — the  dangers  to  be  avoided  rather  than  make  the 
effort  to  transcend  the  truth,  which  is  only  possible  to 
be  obtained  by  direct  revelation  just  what  the  Bible 
teaches,  which  every  babe  proclaims  at  birth.  For  the 
benefit  of  the  incredulous  who  are  prone  to  conserva- 
tive habits,  it  would  be  well  to  consider  that  the  term 
"quantity"  has  no  relation  to  the  word  "quality"  and 
if  a  person  will  only  start  right  he  will  unravel  more 
myth  in  half  an  hour  than  he  can  learn  from  any  ex- 
trinsic system  of  evolution  that  science  has  yet 
evolved.  However  weak  a  spark  of  fire  may  be,  its 
quality  as  fire  is  always  the  same.  Also  a  weak  man  is 
not  deficient  in  quality  because  he  is  burdened  with 
a  physical  type  of  external  inferiority.  It  is  the  inner 
man  that  Spirit  is  contingent  to,  while  external  culti- 
vation is  strictly  confined  to  material  things.  Fire 
that  is  engaged  with  poor  material  will  splutter  and 
Mnap  from  the  defect  in  the  fuel,  but  it  never  changes 
the  intrinsic  principle  of  fire.  A  man  also  may  be  a 
flame  of  accumulated  quantity  of  either  intelligence  or 
worldly  goods,  it  will  be  the  material  quantity  that 
sputters  with  pain,  but  the  quality  of  the  Force  within 
will  always  remain  the  same. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  183 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    BALANCE    OF    FORCE. 

THE  balance  of  Force  is  the  space  between  reality  and 
imagination  occupied  by  reason,  unless  imagina- 
tion has  been  cultivated  so  prodigiously  that  the  circle 
of  understanding  is  entirely  occupied  to  the  exclusion 
of  reality  and  reason.  Even  when  eternal  Force  is  so 
mysterious  that  its  touch  of  the  dormant  function  of 
the  will  may  restore  a  personality  to  a  normal  condi- 
tion, providing,  however,  that  the  will  is  willing  to  re- 
spond to  the  touch.  Greed  and  polity  hover  over  a 
person  with  the  satanical  eagerness  of  a  vulture  that 
only  by  the  force  of  love  is  man  protected  from  de- 
struction at  birth.  That  some  fall  to  destruction  is  a 
blessing  in  disguise,  for  the  party  of  the  second  part 
being  unconscious  of  pain,  is  more  comfortable  than 
the  party  of  the  first  part,  who  must  suffer  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  act. 

There  are  so  many  pitfalls  to  escape  before  a  person 
can  fully  grasp  the  relation  of  experience  to  external 
temptations,  that  the  principle  of  reason  should  be  rec- 
ognized instead  of  the  mad  chase  led  by  imagination 
simply  because  activity  is  dependent  upon  the  force 
of  attraction.  Imagination  and  the  influence  derived 
from  records  of  our  ancestors  is  the  enemy  of  progress 
that  the  sense  of  love  and  reason  are  correlative  in  pro- 
tecting.   To  love  the  past  at  the  exclusion  of  reason, 


184  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  balance  of  Force  will  not  permit ;  it  transcends  the 
ability  of  man  to  transcend  himself,  if  a  paradoxical 
phrase  is  permissible.  The  thought  is  pre-eminent 
above  the  sign  to  represent  it,  and  that  fact  forms  the 
ground  principle  of  man's  effort  to  command  the  Force 
by  which  he  is  privileged  to  exist.  Imagination  is  a 
sense  as  well  as  a  good  many  other  cardinal  principles, 
but  to  cultivate  it  for  the  sole  purpose  of  obtaining  an 
advantage  over  a  weaker  fellow  being,  is  to  court  a 
spiritual  punishment  of  greater  magnitude  than  any 
man  is  able  to  inflict  upon  another. 

The  poetical  illusion  of  imagination  deceives  the 
poet  who  would  claim  special  inspiration  for  himself 
by  reference  to  the  inferiority  of  others,  for  every  hu- 
man thought  is  a  poem  just  as  soon  as  experience  pro- 
vides the  material  of  construction.  That  is,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  previous  experience  at  the  expense  of  a  fall, 
imagination  or  thought  would  be  confined  to  its 
embryo  slumber.  It  is  only  necessary  therefore  to  ob- 
serve an  object  embued  with  an  activity  of  inner  force 
having  ability  enough  to  make  and  receive  signs ;  to 
also  observe  a  poet  in  degree  proportionate  to  his  ex- 
periences. The  fact  that  thought  itself  is  an  image 
constructor  contingent  upon  objects  experienced  by 
the  sense  of  perception,  shows  the  folly  of  pretending 
to  transcend  experience,  because  the  self-revealing 
character  of  a  thought  to  roam  at  will  and  reproduce 
forms  of  objects  presented  to  the  sense  of  perception, 
since  only  for  experience  it  would  be  impossible.  It  is 
a  disrespect  to  the  very  Force  that  makes  even  the  dis- 
respect possible.  A  person  acting  unreasonably  who 
claims  to  be  in  possession  of  his  reason  will  dispute 
his  own  assrtion  more  successfully  than  any  objective 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 85 

Opponent.  The  reason,  that  convicts  the  inner  man  in 
communion  with  Spirit  by  what  is  termed  revery,  has 
no  occasion  to  have  his  dream  interrupted  literally; 
besides  seeking  the  definition  of  words  to  analyze  his 
own  thoughts.  It  makes  the  balance  of  Force  very 
clear  to  any  one  willing  to  do  his  own  thinking,  but 
the  negative  and  positive  sides  of  reason  (for  reason 
must  be  a  dual  principle,  or  no  notion  would  exist  to 
reason  about  when  it  would  be  absurd)  are  not  visible 
to  the  intellectual  faculty  except  alternative.  That  is, 
it  would  be  good  exercise  to  a  person  who  doubted  the 
assertion  that  two  thoughts  cannot  occupy  the  mind 
at  the  same  instant.  Again,  the  word  "mind"  can  be 
used  so  ambiguously  that  a  learned  linguist  can  con- 
vince an  illiterate  man  that  his  thoughts  are  sterile 
until  a  literal  conveyance  is  established  with  some  ob- 
ject that  his  sentient  Force  is  made  to  appear  sec- 
ondary, to  the  attractive  influence  of  a  designing  ob- 
ject. Because  pitfalls  are  facts  to  wake  the  slumber- 
ing protoplasm  of  the  brain,  it  is  no  less  a  fact  that 
more  people  fall  into  the  pits  of  their  own  digging 
than  those  for  whom  the  pits  were  prepared.  This  prin- 
ciple could  be  studied  from  such  meaningless  terms  as 
"teaching  patriotism,  love  of  home,  respect  for  moral 
precepts,"  everything,  in  fact,  to  convince  the  child 
that  it  is  dependent  for  its  sentient  Force  upon  the 
condescension  of  its  external  surroundings,  when  ex- 
perience is  the  direct  recipient  of  the  necessary 
means  to  perceive  anything.  As  well  could  a  person 
presume  to  teach  sunlight,  the  taste  of  sugar,  the  per- 
fume of  a  rose,  the  feeling  of  heat,  or  the  song  of  a  bird, 
as  to  pretend  to  teach  the  sentient  Force,  or  love. 
Teachers  are  not  responsible  for  the  natural  necessity 


1 86  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

of  pitfalls,  when  they  have  been  so  severely  trained 
themselves  to  believe  in  the  dependency  of  a  child  upon 
its  surroundings ;  when  the  child  is  in  direct  touch  with 
the  eternal  Force  of  all  things.  Teachers  are  respon- 
sible, however,  who  have  not  transcended  in  imagery 
of  thought  the  experience  of  childhood  to  a  height  be- 
yond the  touch  of  memory ;  and  to  escape  the  pitfall  of 
their  own  digging  will  be  as  impossible  as  to  demand 
of  Force  a  minute  of  time  or  a  fraction  of  space.  The 
difference,  therefore,  between  truth  and  theory,  or  be- 
tween internal  facts,  and  external  attraction  that  incite 
the  natural  thoughts  (poetically  termed  imagination) 
is  the  balance  of  Force  that  man  or  society  could  not  be 
trusted  to  control,  when  they  are  unable  to  control 
their  insatiable  greed. 

Writers  upon  whatever  subject  they  take  up  are  so 
persistent  in  trying  to  subordinate  the  one  to  the  many, 
are  either  neglectful  of  their  inner  sententiousness  or 
withhold  what  they  know  by  their  own  experience  to  be 
true  for  a  political  or  pecuniary  purpose.  It  reflects 
an  absence  of  moral  courage,  for  how  can  a  person  use 
the  Force  that  is  self-evident  and  practically  admit 
that  he  knows  it,  by  denying  to  others  what  he  so 
freely  parades  as  his  own?  It  shows  again  that  moral 
courage  is  the  real  inner  man,  which  represents  the 
balance  of  Force  that  cannot  be  controlled  or  disguised 
by  the  effort  of  man  to  deny  the  truth  by  the  apparent 
effort  to  protect  the  many,  since  they  are  always  over- 
protected  by  their  multiplicity  of  Force,  for  fear  the 
one  will  rebelliously  declare  his  independence  and 
prove  by  example  that  the  many  are  morally  more  de- 
pendent upon  the  one,  or  integral  part  of  the  whole, 
than  the  one  is  upon  the  many. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 8/ 

The  mere  fiat  of  man,  that  is,  out  of  respect  for  the 
prerogatives  of  the  past,  that  an  uncultured  man  would 
be  dangerous  if  it  was  admitted  that  everyone  was  in 
possession  of  the  same  Force.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  call  attention  to  the  sentiment,  that  man  grows  wise 
in  proportion  to  his  mistakes,  for  the  records  of  the 
past  show  the  same  thing,  that  the  cultured  man  has 
always  been  the  most  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  so- 
ciety and  abstractly  the  most  immoral.  It  is  not 
necessarily  a  condemnation  of  the  principle  of  culture 
which  is  a  cardinal  privilege,  but  rather  its  political 
feature  that  ever  seeks  to  formulate  a  theory  that 
natural  intelligence  must  be  cultivated  before  the  self- 
revealing  Force  that  all  must  possess  to  exist  even  in 
the  weakest  degree.  It  is  mere  idleness  to  try  to  destroy 
a  concrete  fact  that  every  one's  experience  can  verify  by 
abstract  objections  that  will  always  show  a  political 
motive  or  an  imaginary  fancy  that  the  pagans  be- 
stowed upon  posterity  for  fear  the  slave  would  know 
as  much  as  his  master. 

It  should  be  clear,  therefore,  to  anyone  willing  to 
exercise  his  thinking  faculties,  rather  than  employ  all 
his  Force  to  cultivate  material  desires,  that  the  rec- 
ords of  the  past  are  only  valuable  as  showing  the  mis- 
takes of  those  who  go  before,  which  are  examples  to 
be  avoided  rather  than  emulated.  That  the  sense  of 
temerity  and  fear  is  a  wise  provision  against  a  heedless 
destruction  of  oneself,  is  the  reason  a  person  is  more 
willing  to  serve  than  exert  the  ncessary  activity  that 
personal  freedom  entails.  It  does  not  detract,  how- 
ever, from  the  concrete  truth  that  no  man  was  ever 
born  to  command  another ;  it  is  not  a  theory  or  a  freak 
of  imagination,  it  is  an  impossibility.     It  is  a  personal 


1 88  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

privilege  to  exercise  a  private  reason  for  submitting  to 
others  without  being  a  party  to  the  contract.  From 
whatever  view  this  subject  is  considered,  the  balance 
of  Force  is  the  difference  between  moral  courage  and 
the  attraction  of  external  objects. 

Whatever  objection  a  man  can  formulate,  the  limit 
is  reached  in  attempting  to  command  Force  because  he 
is  privileged  to  utilize  it.  The  predilection  of  predeces- 
sors is  being  slowly  abandoned  in  favor  of  what  ap- 
pears to  be  human  weakness,  but  in  reality  strong  in 
moral  rectitude,  for  it  is  not  only  evident  to  an  un- 
biased observer,  but  a  necessary  fact  also,  that  moral- 
ity is  conserved  in  the  base  against  the  immorality  of 
the  apex.  It  reverses  the  philosophy  of  the  pagans, 
and  in  like  proportion  the  freedom  of  Christianity 
grows  more  apparent. 

A  Light  seeking  to  discover  itself  should  be  able  to 
recognize  that  the  fact  had  been  previously  discovered. 
It  is  parallel  to  Time  and  Space  chasing  each  other  in 
circles  to  see  which  would  reach  the  desired  end  first. 
It  is  only  a  coward,  however,  that  becomes  dissatisfied 
witli  the  natural  order  of  things  because  he  cannot  dis- 
cover what  is  going  to  happen  before  it  does  happen. 
It  suggests  a  virtue  in  imagination  that  material  things 
do  not  possess,  for  the  greed  of  man  cannot  even  im- 
agine a  method  to  monopolize  the  common  privilege. 
The  limit  of  greed  to  derive  any  material  benefit  from 
imagination  is  to  appeal  to  the  fear  of  parents,  to  per- 
mit their  children  to  be  taught  imagination  for  the 
profit  of  teaching  what  was  revealed  to  the  child  at 
birth  free  of  cost.  But  at  this  point  satanical  greed  is 
deflected  again  by  the  balance  of  eternal  Force,  which 
is  the  power  of  love  to   dispel   fear.    Whichever  way 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  1 89 

man  runs  he  cannot  flee  from  the  Force  within,  but 
greed  is  a  coward,  or  Esau  would  not  have  sold  his 
birthright  to  nurse  his  material  appetite.  Man  can 
see  vanity  in  others,  when  he  is  blind  to  the  fact  that 
he  could  not  see  it  except  from  the  reflections  of  his 
own  feelings.  A  man  commits  suicide  when  he  can- 
not hide  from  his  surroundings  a  dishonesty  which 
would  expose  his  previous  ostentation,  a  burden  of 
humility  harder  to  bear  than  the  afflictions  of  Job. 

Also  the  indifference  to  observation,  that  the  inner 
Force  of  man  can  silently  study  with  no  other  means 
than  what  was  naturally  revealed  to  him,  makes  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  for  a  man  to  maintain  an  assumption 
of  superior  quality  over  another  in  his  own  image.  It 
is  noticeable  by  even  a  child  that  a  person  who  will 
acknowledge  the  superiority  of  another  on  demand, 
will  divide  his  time  between  serving  his  master  and 
seeking  a  servant  himself,  to  command.  It  must  be 
pagan  ethics,  for  it  is  certainly  not  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  etymologist  is  also  a  diligent  worker  in  the  ser- 
vice of  his  Satanic  majesty's  service  for  the  importance 
of  distorting  words  and  the  grammatical  construction 
of  sentences  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  fact,  that 
the  origin  of  language  had  a  remote  beginning  in  ac- 
cord with  pagan  mythology.  It  makes  it  appear  true 
that  man  is  born  a  dependent  creature,  which  senti- 
ment had  kept  philosophers  in  a  panic,  both  ancient 
and  modern.  When  grammar  depends  upon  excep- 
tions more  than  the  rule,  it  is  no  credit  to  the  English 
language.  The  words  "subject"  and  "object"  are  very 
conveniently  defined  to  make  it  proper  for  a  subject  to 
feel  obligated  to  its  surroundings  for  the  privilege  of 


190  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

serving  an  object  in  command.  The  king  was  not  in- 
cluded in  either  subject  or  object.  When  these  words 
were  made  relative  to  something  of  substance,  it  would 
follow  that  a  king  was  neither  something  or  substance, 
leaving  the  inference  that  he  was  supernatural  or  noth- 
ing at  all.  It  merely  shows  the  absurdity  of  a  State 
claiming  authority  in  imitation  of  a  King  in  a  nation 
that  to  be  consistent  should  change  the  word  subject 
according  to  its  prerogative  definition  to  that  of  sov- 
ereign to  be  in  accord  with  the  American  (declaration 
of  purpose).  It  would  relieve  the  American  etymolo- 
gist from  having  any  more  sins  to  answer  for.  The 
greed  for  power  to  command  is  just  as  great  in  one 
form  of  government  as  another,  which  is  equally  true 
of  the  man  trained  to  the  obedience  of  monarchical 
rules.  The  voice  of  the  babe  is  therefore  the  only  lan- 
guage pure  enough  to  teach  reforms. 

The  relation  of  two  persons  one  to  the  other,  both 
being  subject  to  a  possible  third,  will  show  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  modern  etymologist  in  trying  to  preserve 
the  purpose  of  words  against  the  danger  of  their  be- 
coming so  classical  that  common  people  will  know  less 
from  a  literal  standpoint  in  proportion  as  they  know 
more  of  the  ambiguity  of  words  with  their  multitude 
of  synonyms  and  variety  of  definitions.  Are  two  per- 
sons both  subject  and  object  to  each  other,  according 
as  one  is  superior  or  inferior  to  the  other?  If  it  is  the 
privilege  of  man  to  take  advantage  of  human  weak- 
ness, the  pretention  of  doing  it  as  a  purpose  of  assist- 
ance is  too  unreasonable,  when  the  greater  effort  is  di- 
rected toward  the  confounding  of  understanding  by  the 
support  of  text  books  and  literature  written  for  an  op- 
posite purpose.     No  person  should  be  condemned  for 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I9I 

his  external  appearance,  but  when  he  insists  upon  act- 
ing unreasonably  he  should  be  observed  by  his  acts 
rather  than  from  his  external  appearance.  Why  do  we 
have  a  government  or  educational  institutions?  It  is 
a  poor  apology  for  the  increasing  social  disorder  to  ask 
such  a  question  when  education  and  government  is  a 
mere  political  system  to  protect  exclusive  privileges. 
It  is  misleading  to  those  who  are  trained  to  believe 
that  literal  acquirements  will  enable  a  person  to  obtain 
greater  luxury  with  a  less  expediture  of  energy,  but 
the  end  does  not  justify  the  means,  for  happiness  and 
moral  conduct  are  more  conspicuous  among  those  who 
are  called  the  laboring  class  than  those  who  are  pro- 
vided with  material  goods  in  both  wealth  and  culture. 
It  is  a  question  of  immediate  importance  to  consider 
whether  a  person  does  not  pay  dearer  for  the  necessary 
transgression,  to  obtain  a  living  at  the  expense  of 
others'  labor,  than  those  who  are  from  necessity  also, 
obliged  to  earn  their  living?  It  is  too  transparent  for 
rational  reason  to  even  consider,  whether  abstract  edu- 
cation is  conducted  with  a  view  to  render  assistance  to 
the  laborer.  It  could  readily  be  tested,  however,  by 
demanding  an  accounting  from  political  stewardship 
to  determine  whether  the  cost  of  education  adds  or  de- 
tracts from  its  common  benefit,  what  is  claimed  for  it. 
Also  the  balance  of  eternal  Force  could  be  found  on 
the  side  of  the  concrete  or  natural  education,  against 
the  abstract  or  political  side. 


192  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

VAGUE    TERMS. 

npHE  consciousness  that  something  exists  if  no  more 
''■  than  the  name,  it  certainly  remains  a  fact  that  the 
word  "something"  exists.  If  it  can  be  demonstrated  by 
scientific  analysis  that  an  atom  of  matter  can  be  divided 
to  an  invisible  state,  and  still  continue  to  be  divided 
infinitely  until  the  atom  becomes  so  small  that  it  be- 
comes Force  by  each  atom  apparently  passes  through 
each  other,  we  still  have  the  word  "something"  for  the 
Force  of  thought  to  rest  upon  in  its  infinite  flight  at 
the  command  of  "something"  to  transcend  the  visible 
and  even  imagine  at  least  the  ability  of  thought  to 
command  the  earth  to  follow.  While  companion 
thoughts  are  equally  believing  they  are  conducting  the 
earth  in  an  oppostie  direction.  It  is  a  comfort  to 
realize  that  empirical  self  has  "something,"  if  only  the 
"word"  by  which  faith  and  conscious  experience  estab- 
lishes a  personality,  that  no  other  personality  can  deny 
the  something  without  admitting  their  own  personality 
to  be  nothing. 

It  is  certainly  less  vague  than  to  follow  Spencer  who 
classes  himself  among  the  "thinkers"  who  can  analyze 
and  determine  everything  to  be  unknowable  nothing- 
ness, while  he  uses  the  word  "vulgar"  to  designate  a 
personality  that  can  walk  while  lacking  the  faculty  of 
thinking.     This  ability  to  use  words  to  prove  what  a 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I93 

person  wants  to  know,  and  then  pronounces  it  un- 
knowable to  others ;  it  would  be  charity  at  least  to 
apply  the  unknowable  to  the  "vulgar"  as  he  undoubt- 
edly referred  to  a  personality  in  his  own  image  and 
called  it  "vulgar."  Thus  it  would  appear  remarkable 
that  he  could  analyze  the  inner  man  of  an  object,  that 
merely  reflected  an  external  observation,  and  pass 
judgment  on  the  object  as  "vulgar"  while  objects  he 
could  see  and  feel  by  his  own  sentient  faculties  become 
unknowable  by  the  science  of  logic  so  profound  that 
none  but  himself  could  dispute  his  conclusions.  The 
"vulgar"  at  least,  were  they  privileged  to  think  out 
loud,  would  be  as  able  to  demonstrate  an  inner 
thought  and  become  transformed  into  a  subject,  while 
the  accuser  who  could  judge  a  man  he  had  previously 
consigned  to  silence,  would  be  marvelously  trans- 
formed into  an  object.  It  would  appear  that  it  was 
possible  to  read  enough  pagan  literature  so  that  a  man 
could  become  unknown  to  himself. 

It  is  a  comfort  to  realize  that  words  are  "some- 
thing," but  as  a  means  of  distributing  a  correspond- 
ence of  understanding  they  are  very  misleading;  and 
from  their  synthetic  possibilities,  they  can  be  used  to 
give  the  appearance  that  the  Truth  itself  was  more  de- 
pendent upon  its  extrinsic  worth  than  its  own  intrin- 
sic finality.  The  ability  to  express  thoughts  by  any 
method  of  language  is  at  least  more  moral  than  an  ob- 
vious purpose  of  the  distortion  of  literal  words  to  keep 
the  human  race  in  a  state  of  war,  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  or  continually  trying  to  prove  that  the  subject 
is  dependent  upon  its  object.  The  ancient  subject  was 
the  chattel  slave,  the  property  of  its  external  object.  It 
is  difficult  from  the  ambiguity  of  words  to  persuade  a 


194  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

victim  that  he  has  just  as  clear  a  title  to  being  the  ob- 
ject of  a  subject  as  the  object  has  to  claim  a  supervi- 
sion over  the  subject. 

If  it  was  a  fact  that  the  object  of  abstract  education 
is  to  really  enlighten  the  subject,  the  economy  of  literal 
words  would  be  the  most  definite  means  to  such  an 
end.  It  appears  to  be  a  matter  of  indifference  after  a 
person  is  taught  to  believe  he  is  educated,  whether  the 
silent  masses  can  think  or  not.  Spencer's  reflections 
on  the  "vulgar"  has  more  to  do  with  society  than  his 
effort  to  divide  atoms  into  invisible  parts  to  justify  the 
visible  injustice  of  man  ever  seeking  a  proof  that  some 
men  are  superior  enough  to  command  the  obedience 
of  others. 

It  is  no  consolation  to  a  man  after  he  is  born  to  be 
taught  what  he  was  before,  and  then  frightened  with 
pagan  mythology  on  one  side  and  modern  philosophy 
on  the  other,  proving  "beyond  dispute"  as  both  sides 
claim ;  whatever  cannot  be  disputed  is  the  only  proof 
that  the  sentiment  of  truth  exists  at  all.  So  many  peo- 
ple continuing  to  be  saved  from  the  dire  threatenings 
of  those  who  came  before  and  also  go  before,  that  it  is 
more  mysterious  than  to  prove  that  matter  is  not  a 
solid  substance. 

To  follow  the  same  line  of  logic  that  philosophers 
merely  prove  to  be  false,  why  not  analyze  things  from 
the  so-called  "vulgar"  hypothesis?  Howe  succeeded 
in  making  a  sewing  machine  when  he  exchanged  ends 
for  the  eye  of  the  needle,  therefore  if  the  so-called  su- 
perior end  of  society  are  obliged  to  distort  words  to 
make  their  theories  hang  together  until  words  again 
are  able  to  tear  the  theory  apart,  it  must  be  that  phi- 
losophers have  been  far  too  persistent  in  trying  to  con- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  195 

serve  the  wrong  end  of  humanity.  So  far  as  words  go 
we  know  what  we  were  before  we  were  born,  and  also 
what  we  are  Hable  to  be  or  not  to  be  after  so-called 
death.  That  literal  words  are  figuratively  the  eye  of  ab- 
stract society,  every  attempt  to  even  suggest  that  the 
illiterate  end  of  humanity  might  possibly  know  more 
in  their  silence  than  the  abstract  end  did  with  their 
ability  to  make  all  the  literary  noise.  It  seems  absurd 
at  first  thought,  but  speculations  from  the  "vulgar" 
end  of  humanity  could  show  no  worse  failure  than  the 
abstract  end,  since  letters  were  able  to  record  their 
own  advent. 

The  effort  of  Darwin,  Spencer  and  Drummond,  with 
multitudes  of  minor  lights,  have  all  tried  to  make  the 
pyramid  of  humanity  figuratively  stand  on  its  apex, 
which  is  a  scientific  impossibility  if  the  force  of  Nature 
is  to  be  recognized  as  a  party  to  the  scheme.  Literal 
words  have  been  exclusively  used  in  the  discussions  of 
doctrines,  therefore  any  respect  for  such  portion  of 
humanity  that  have  no  literal  means  of  expression  are 
excluded  from  discussion.  By  reason  of  the  character  of 
doctrine  as  an  instructor,  it  necessarily  implies  some- 
thing to  be  instructed  rather  than  to  be  instructive. 
Even  God  is  excluded  from  doctrine  in  His  privilege  to 
continue  revealing  knowledge  and  the  ability  to  think 
direct  to  the  individual  born.  Because  literal  words 
can  dispute  the  direct  revelation,  it  appears  unworthy 
of  notice  in  the  great  mass  of  literature  to  recognize 
anything  that  is  not  presented  in  some  literal  form,  yet 
words  dispute  words,  and  scholars  dispute  scholars, 
but  neither  words  or  scholars  were  ever  able  to  dispute 
God's  revelation  direct  to  the  individual  being  from 
the  lowest  degree  of  animal  life  to  the  highest  degree 
of  human  existence. 


196  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Is  it  worth  while  to  dispute  the  Truth  for  the  pur- 
pose of  protecting  the  principle  of  doctrine  that  has 
never  produced  anything  but  discussion,  disputes,  re- 
buttals and  rejoinders?  To  allege  that  a  notion  must 
be  literally  established  before  it  was  worthy  of  notice 
by  the  learned  in  the  interest  of  society,  would,  if  it 
became  a  fact,  be  the  quickest  method  of  destroying 
society,  but  the  activity  of  Nature  will  not  permit  of 
such  an  occurrence,  for  after  the  literally  learned  de- 
stroy themselves  trying  to  find  out  how  it  happened, 
there  would  doubtless  be  something  in  the  image  of 
God  to  inhabit  the  earth.  To  ignore  experience  as  be- 
ing knowledge  directly  revealed  will  not  affect  the 
child  or  men  of  low  degree  as  much  as  those  who 
vainly  strive  to  protect  their  greed  by  instituting  new 
doctrines  when  experience  was  founded  upon  a  rock 
that  no  word  or  distortion  of  words  can  disprove. 
That  the  representatives  of  thoughts  can  control  the 
thoughts  of  those  they  represent  is  impossible,  and 
continually  being  proved  by  the  vague  construction  of 
terms  at  the  behest  of  political  greed.  The  way  to 
prevent  it,  is  not  to  formulate  a  doctrine  to  stop  it,  but 
for  the  individual  who  comprehends  the  situation  to 
commence  at  once  to  stop  it;  the  example  will  spread 
faster  than  precepts  will  protect  doctrines.  It  is  only 
those  who  are  trained  or  broken  to  follow  indirect 
knowledge  at  the  exclusion  of  the  direct,  that  have  any 
use  for  doctrines.  It  is  the  reason  why  philosophers 
dispute  themselves,  because  they  try  to  find  the  truth 
or  pretend  to,  with  words  that  are  false  to  their  object. 
Multitudes  of  vague  terms  are  used  that  are  meaning- 
less, and  would  not  be  used  except  for  the  purpose  to 
protect  the  prerogatives  of  doctrines  which    are  often 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  I97 

more  profitable  than  the  traffic  in  material  goods. 
For  instance,  there  was  never  but  one  language  for  the 
entire  human  race,  and  that  is  directly  revealed  at 
birth,  a  concrete  language  common  to  all.  By  the  dis- 
tortion of  words,  literal  methods  of  representing 
thought  are  also  called  language  when  its  proper  name 
would  be  a  literal  dialect.  Written  language  can  be 
instructive  and  deceptive  both,  but  the  Natural  lan- 
guage is  as  indestructible  as  Nature  itself.  It  is  a  trifle, 
but  it  is  of  great  importance  to  protect  the  prerogatives 
of  the  past  which  greed  will  fight  for  to  the  death.  It 
is  a  principle  that  cannot  be  conquered  by  literal  words 
or  vague  terms.  The  words  subject  and  object  are 
used  to  make  understanding  as  difficult  as  possible, 
which  has  been  previously  alluded  to.  It  would  shock 
the  world  like  the  reforms  of  the  15th  century  when 
the  "new  learning"  took  hold  of  people  who  were  not 
too  busy  grinding  the  poor.  The  only  protection  the 
child  has  got  other  than  its  parents,  is  the  school 
teacher  with  moral  courage  enough  to  teach  without 
relying  upon  pagan  prerogatives  that  school  books  and 
libraries  are  flooded  with.  Good  books,  like  anything 
good,  need  no  recommendation  other  than  what  they 
reveal,  for  vague  terms  will  condemn  themselves  to 
anyone  interested  to  study  the  situation. 

Who  has  authority  outside  of  books  derived  from 
the  pagans  to  proclaim  that  a  child  is  a  subject  depend- 
ing upon  an  object?  Are  children  obliged  to  be  taught 
in  this  advanced  age  that  they  are  slaves  because  Greek 
literature  was  especially  prepared  to  teach  submission 
to  the  literally  learned  as  pleasing  to  the  numerous 
gods,  that  they  also  used  to  fool  the  common  people 
with?     The  fact  is,  children  are  not  born  dependent 


198  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Upon  predecessors,  which  every  person  with  ability- 
enough  to  assert  their  experience  by  making  some  sign 
or  other,  knows  it  to  be  a  fact. 

The  relation  of  words  to  concrete  principles  betrays 
the  vagueness  of  terms  which  are  always  abstracts  of 
experience.  It  makes  the  word  education  a  myth  in 
comparison  to  the  concrete  principle  of  education. 

The  misunderstanding  of  the  relation  of  terms  to 
facts,  is  the  opportunity  of  the  learned  man  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  credulous;  moral  conviction,  however, 
derived  from  the  inner  school  house  of  experience, 
would  not  justify  even  a  literally  learned  man  in  taking 
advantage  of  another  or  practically  betraying  the  other's 
confidence;  for  confidence  is  equivalent  to  a  trust  and 
faith  in  God.  For  that  reason  a  learned  man  who 
would  manipulate  literal  terms  to  distort  a  concrete 
principle,  is  self-convicting  of  a  purpose  to  appropriate 
an  advantage  from  whoever  he  could  induce  to  have 
confidence  in  him.  To  claim  that  it  is  impossible  for 
one  person  to  teach  another  would  appear  absurd,  but 
no  more  so  than  to  be  obliged  to  resort  to  the  use  of 
vague  terms  to  dispute  it.  A  strict  analysis  of  this 
proposition  according  to  Spencer's  rules  would  be  of 
more  benefit  to  civilization  than  to  learn  that  matter 
was  never  solid.  It  would  also  show  that  words  were 
an  impossibility  as  a  means  of  finding  the  truth,  the 
very  reason  that  doctrinal  evolution  is  but  the  abstract 
of  natural  evolution  of  which  all  living  creatures  are 
co-partners. 

Because  one  person  can  exist  comfortably  in  a  small 
circle  would  account  for  the  apparent  convictions  that 
the  precedents  of  long-established  customs  are  to  be 
accepted  by  reason  of  their  age.    If  it  were  so,  reason 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  I99 

itself  would  be  a  myth.  It  is  as  much  a  personal  privi- 
lege for  one  to  neglect  the  development  of  possibilities 
within.  Therefore,  to  be  misled  by  the  mere  ambiguity 
of  words  is  to  neglect  the  real  cardinal  principle  of  edu- 
cation. The  standard  definition  of  the  word  education 
is  a  better  proof  of  vague  terms  than  any  analysis  of 
what  is  "lead  forth"  for  to  lead  implies  something  to 
lead,  and  also  a  purpose  for  leading  it.  The  main  fea- 
ture is  that  something  exists  within  the  object  that  is 
either  forcibly  to  be  led  or  from  inward  willingness  to 
be  led.  It  would  be  confusing  to  point  to  the  varied 
synonyms,  for  any  person  interested  could  readily 
study  them  at  their  pleasure. 

Now  if  experience  and  observation  are  any  criterion 
— animals  of  every  degree  are  extremely  notional 
about  being  led,  either  bodily  or  intellectually.  The 
moral  feature  of  its  being  better  or  worse  will  be  con- 
sidered in  following  chapters,  for  the  subject  matter 
in  hand  is  the  relation  of  concrete  principles  to  vague 
terms.  It  must  be  observed  that  inner  principles  have 
a  universal  location  that  has  baffled  philosophers,  as- 
trologers and  magicians  of  old,  as  well  as  modern  sci- 
entists. To  be  concise,  there  is  something  within  a 
person  that  is  rebellious,  and  positively  refuses  to  be 
led  in  the  absence  of  an  attractive  bait  As  one  form 
of  "leading  forth"  becomes  obsolete  by  reason  of  sub- 
jects refusing  to  be  led  by  objects,  other  forms  are  sub- 
stituted, for  civilization  has  not  yet  outgrown  the 
ancient  myth  that  everything  must  necessarily  be  led 
by  something.  The  vagueness  of  present  terms  derived 
from  the  roots  of  mythology  are  so  misleading  that  peo- 
ple who  appear  to  be  anxious  to  do  what  is  right,  will 
continue  to  believe  they  must  be  led  by  the  precepts  of 


200  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

predecessors.  This  principle  appeals  more  directly  to 
individual  experience  than  any  specific  doctrine,  which, 
analyzed  as  such,  would  be  found  to  be  a  series  of  fol- 
lowers led  by  one  person  as  the  reputed  originator  of 
the  doctrine.  Christian  precepts  would  be  as  mythical 
as  its  pagan  predecessor,  only  for  the  fact  that  its  very 
essence  is  freedom,  which  pagan  tools  to  demonstrate 
a  principle  of  freedom  will  continue  to  obstruct  rather 
than  construct.  Education,  therefore,  is  a  divine  prin- 
ciple that  abstract  words  are  mere  pitfalls  in  compari- 
son. It  adds  nothing  to  the  inner  man,  even  by  the 
etymology  of  the  term  which  is  to  "lead  forth."  It 
condemns  itself  in  the  effort  to  give  the  appearance 
that  an  object  can  lead  a  subject,  just  as  impossible  as 
for  literal  education  to  transcend  experience. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

CLASSICAL    SOCIETY. 

THE  classical  is  simply  an  over-wrought  imagina- 
tion. It  is  remarkable  that  it  is  always  subjective  and 
never  objective  which  makes  it  the  very  essence  of  em- 
piricism. Now  the  fact  that  experience  is  the  entire 
stock  of  intellectual  goods  that  is  strictly  personal 
property,  it  makes  it  interesting  to  study  the  school- 
house  of  oneself  from  which  all  the  knowledge  that  is 
possible  is  obtainable.  Classical  society  depends  upon 
mythology  as  a  base,  after  which  its  continuance  is 
only  possible  to  such  a  degree  as  followers  can  be  at- 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  201 

tracted  to  the  system.  Only  from  disregard  of  the 
cardinal  principle  of  experience  can  the  myth  of  classi- 
cal society  be  maintained.  It  is  dependent  upon  human 
weakness  or  imaginary  expectation,  both  of  which 
form  the  pitfall  that  humanity  must  accept  one  of  two 
alternatives;  whether  he  will  follow  myth  and  worship 
pagan  prerogatives,  which  is  the  external  or  material 
reward,  a  mere  continuance  of  imaginary  expectations 
that  have  to  be  cultivated  by  greater  ones  in  propor- 
tion as  they  prove  to  be  myths. 

Imagination  is  only  the  modern  name  for  myth.  Ex- 
perience cannot  be  transcended  a  fraction,  which  is 
neither  a  doctrine  or  affirmation.  It  is  the  truth  which 
the  individual  only  can  determine  by  accepting  the 
lesser  attraction  which  is  the  inner  promptings  of  oneself. 
Chasing  imagination  makes  a  brilliant  parade,  but  it  is  a 
stem  chase,  never  catching  anything  but  disappointment. 
The  fact  that  classical  society  presents  only  the  external 
side  (the  mythical  side)  it  is  just  as  impossible  to  de- 
termine the  inner  side  of  misery  or  sterile  ignorance,  as 
to  determine  the  thoughts  of  a  child  who  eagerly  watches 
its  predecessors  as  they  pass  in  review.  The  only  rea- 
sonable method  by  which  activity  can  contend  with  sterile 
passiveness  is  for  Spirit  or  Force  to  have  some  substance 
to  act  upon,  for  it  must  be  plainly  realized  that  the  most 
perfect  light  would  be  lonely  without  darkness  for  a 
comparison.  That  the  ancients  understood  this  princi- 
ple was  evident  by  their  extravagant  reliance  upon  myth 
to  conquer  their  opponents,  and  frighten  their  subjects. 
It  also  gave  rise  to  a  class  system,  the  motive  for  which 
could  be  comprehended  by  a  child.  In  comparison  with 
modern  knowledge  it  would  appear  reasonable  from  the 
empirical  view   of  humanity,  that  no   imagination  could 


202  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

be  conceived  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  prove  there  was 
any  more  knowledge  in  the  world  now  than  in  any  pre- 
vious i>eriod.  This  statement  would  call  for  an  explana- 
tion that  terminology  could  continue  to  dispute,  but  to 
accept  the  word  Knowledge  as  identical  with  the  word 
Force,  it  would  be  absurd  to  try  to  prove  that  knowledge 
had  increased  any  more  than  substance.  Civilization, 
however,  is  a  principle  that  moves  forward  more  or  less 
in  proportion  to  obstructions,  for  the  fact  that  it  moves 
forward  against  the  effort  of  man  to  destroy  each  other, 
is  reasonable  proof  that  man,  controlled  by  greed  and  the 
support  of  doctrines  to  defend  it,  is  more  obstructive 
than  constructive.  The  credit  for  growth  is  falsely 
claimed  by  man  even  as  an  instrument  of  progress,  so 
long  as  he  insists  in  clinging  to  pagan  prerogatives  to 
protect  an  external  parade.  To  explain  what  the  word 
civilization  signifies  is  to  go  no  further  than  to  say : 
It  is  a  result  of  the  distribution  of  knowledge  per- 
mitting a  greater  multiplicity  of  things  previously 
known  to  be  concentrated.  It  is  entirely  due  to  Force — 
God.  No  fraction  of  it  is  due  to  man  as  an  "instru- 
mentality." To  nature,  as  God,  all  is  duly  considered  as 
an  instrument,  which  figuratively  is  the  series  of  various 
objects,  man  in  his  corporate  existence  included,  in  com- 
mon with  leaves,  grass,  flowers,  or  the  terminal  fruit. 
In  the  inner  schoolhouse  presided  over  by  the  same  con- 
crete Force  that  includes  Nature,  man  as  a  corporal  be- 
ing is  no  more  than  a  blade  of  grass,  and  only  by  his 
self-sufficiency  by  which  he  is  able  to  elect  himself  to  a 
vicarious  attitude,  by  the  aid  also  of  the  common  privilege 
of  imagination — the  faculty  of  thought — also  common  to 
every  living  thing  with  natural  knowledge  enough  to  flee 
from  danger.     Without  the  mythical  inventions  of  literal 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  203 

tools  (letters)  in  connection  with  the  etymology  of  the 
pagans,  no  tenable  ground  could  exist  at  the  present  day 
for  classical  society  to  rest  upon.  It  will  continue  just 
as  long  as  subjects  can  be  attracted  by  objects  in  mythi- 
cal terminology  that  a  subject  is  "under"  something  which 
is  declared  to  be  an  object;  thus  it  is  predicted  that  the 
weakest  creatures  are  forever  dependent  upon  the  strong- 
er, an  imagination  that  every  schoolhouse  of  the  inner 
man  knows  to  be  a  myth.  Theologians,  philosophers  and 
scientists,  have  all  failed  to  prove  this  most  important 
feature  of  life,  that  a  subject  is  dependent  upon  an  object, 
simply  because  it  is  not  true. 

More  proof  is  the  only  excuse  a  person  can  make  for 
not  believing  his  own  experience;  it  makes  education 
and  discussion  as  endless  as  time  and  space.  Imagination 
furnishes  the  means  to  an  endless  end,  and  to  escape  from 
ones  own  folly  is  never  accomplished  by  commanding 
another  to  do  what  one  will  not  exemplify  himself.  The 
whole  principle  is  involved  in  the  relation  of  a  subject  to 
an  object;  as  one  understands  this  idea  he  understands 
it  all.  To  continue  to  maintain  that  a  subject  is  de- 
pendent upon  an  object  is  absurd  and  only  possible  by 
reason  of  the  ability  of  one  to  persuade  another  to  sacri- 
fice his  own  natural  intuition  in  exchange  for  the  tuition 
of  another.  A  false  assertion,  however,  will  never  make 
an  immoral  act  moral;  and  no  principle  to  justify  "in- 
dulgences" was  ever  invented  more  wicked  than  to  teach 
that  a  subject  was  dependent  upon  its  object  for  Know- 
ledge. The  force  of  logic  will  not  sustain  a  hypothesis 
to  an  end  desired,  simply  because  it  is  desired;  for  in- 
stance : 

"Up"  and  "down"  signify  a  principle  of  substance,  if 
in  motion,  as  moving  in  opposite  directions,  therefore  a 


204  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

subject  either  animate  or  inanimate  is  substance;  its  ob- 
ject is  also  substance.  If  a  babe  or  stone  fall  by  the 
Force  of  gravity  it  comes  in  contact  with  an  object  either 
animate  or  inanimate.  It  never  falls  up,  thus  it  is  ex- 
tremely figurative  to  locate  a  subject  under  an  object,  for 
the  apparent  purpose  of  claiming  a  pre-eminence  of  an 
object  over  a  subject. 

It  has  been  proved  by  ancients  and  moderns  both, 
what  there  is  no  necessity  to  refute,  that  a  child  depends 
upon  a  contact  with  some  object  for  its  consciousness; 
experience  also  endorses  the  idea,  but  that  one  conscious 
being  can  elect  himself  as  an  object  of  supervision  over 
another  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  by  simply  calling 
the  other  a  subject,  is  the  point,  that  experience  often 
the  result  of  such  contact  emphatically  denies. 

Neither  the  subject  or  object  has  any  control  over  the 
Force  of  gravity  and  when  two  persons  come  in  contact 
with  each  other  from  either  a  fall  or  otherwise,  the  im- 
possibility of  determining  the  object  or  the  subject  by 
any  method  of  proof  would  be  to  determine  which  sub- 
stance was  first  to  come  in  contact  with  the  other.  Multi- 
tudes of  circumstances  could  not  change  the  concrete 
fact,  the  importance  of  which  is,  there  is  no  natural  or 
moral  grounds  for  one  person  or  group  of  persons  claim- 
ing authority  over  another,  by  reason  of  classifying  them- 
selves as  an  object  toward  which  the  subject  is  in  duty 
bound  to  believe  his  knowledge  depends.  Words  in  no 
wise  change  a  concrete  principle;  for  that  reason  to  dis- 
pute the  definition  of  the  word  knowledge,  would  be  a 
mere  discussion  of  etymology  which  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  something  within  the  man,  that  knows  when  his 
corporal  person  comes  in  contact  with  a  contemporary 
equally  endowed  within,  which  is  also  true  when  the  ob- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  205 

ject  is  a  stone.  It  proves  that  the  object  or  the  entire 
surroundings  of  an  empirical  subject  has  no  moral  right 
to  claim  credit,  or  demand  money,  or  service,  for  pre- 
tending to  instill  into  another  knowledge  of  which  the 
other  is  in  possession  free  of  cost,  either  in  money  or  ser- 
vice. If  it  were  not  true  the  contact  of  two  stones  would 
cause  each  to  scream  with  pain  at  the  moment  of  contact. 
The  effort  to  get  beyond  the  fact  of  a  concrete  principle, 
stimulates  activity  derived  from  the  fountain  that  would 
destroy  itself,  except  for  the  direct  revelations  that  every 
living  thing  has  a  clear  title  to.  The  etymologist,  the 
biologist  or  psychologist,  is  confined  to  the  analysis  of 
the  attributes  of  Force,  but  to  deprive  the  commonest 
creature  of  its  unsolicited  title  to  what  it  knows  within, 
is  as  impossible  as  to  make  a  stone  breathe. 

The  continued  effort  to  construct  with  Greek  tools  from 
which  they  themselves  only  wrought  their  own  ruin,  is 
an  exhibition  of  vanity  that  even  children  have  the  means 
within  to  combat. 

The  scholarly  learned  to  be  such  and  not  recognize  the 
difference  between  classical  society  and  Christian  society, 
cannot  hide  his  lack  of  moral  courage  from  himself  per- 
mitting that  he  is  able  to  hide  it  from  his  external  ob- 
servers. Spencer  and  also  other  eminent  philosophers 
withhold  the  most  important  feature  of  personality  either 
from  modesty  or  fear,  or  possibly  from  the  synthesis  of 
both  principles.  They  all  stop  at  a  point  of  compromis- 
ing their  own  personal  interests ;  it  suggests  the  thought, 
of  the  difficulty  of  being  solicitous  for  the  well  being  of 
others,  while  self  interests  cannot  be  successfully  hidden 
from  the  observation  of  an  object  which  mysteriously 
transforms  itself  into  a  subject  by  asking  of  a  teacher 
why  he  fails  to  practice  what  he  preaches.     It  appears 


206  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

to  escape  the  notice  of  reformers  who  feel  obHged  to 
cHng  to  classical  society  that  the  natural  man  and  even 
the  child  is  much  quicker  to  notice  an  omission  of  prac- 
tice than  to  digest  the  most  profound  precepts.  This 
advantage  will  be  held  by  natural  man,  and  the  babe  for 
the  preservation  of  the  human  race,  and  if  classical  so- 
ciety neglects  to  observe  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  will 
be  such  society  that  will  suffer  more  in  proportion  as 
they  depend  upon  myth,  and  superficial  appearances. 
How  history  can  be  twisted  into  any  other  conclusion, 
it  would  be  well  for  the  sincere  learned  to  study.  The 
mistakes  of  the  past  are  too  conspicuous  to  be  entirely 
ignored.  They  were  not  all  the  fault  of  the  babe  for  not 
refusing  to  be  born,  and  natural  man  who  know  enough 
to  flee  from  the  adventurers,  who  would  betray  their 
confidence  as  soon  as  it  was  established. 

It  is  idle  to  ignore  an  appeal  for  a  recognition  of  the 
natural  rights  of  the  so-called  "low  type"  of  humanity 
on  the  ground  of  their  inability  to  perceive  objects  who 
claim  the  right  of  their  own  assumption.  The  "low  type 
are  better  protected  by  Force  common  to  all,  which 
could  also  be  termed  natural  Force,  or  Nature  itself, 
than  classical  society  which  have  always  existed  in  a 
state  of  fear  reflecting  their  immoral  anxiety  for  the 
"low  type"  of  humanity  who  are  nearer  God  in  pro- 
portion to  their  natural  protection.  To  ask  why  not 
remain  in  an  aboriginal  state  rather  than  accept  a  more 
civilized  state  would  be  absurd  for  a  person  claiming 
to  be  classical.  Nature  will  not  permit  humanity  to 
remain  passive  any  more  than  it  consults  the  permis- 
sion of  a  person  to  be  born.  Therefore  with  any  group 
of  persons  claiming  to  be  superior  with  no  other  foun- 
dation for  such  claim  than  the  possession  of  a  greater 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  207 

degree  of  knowledge,  both  immediate  and  mediate,  the 
disorder  of  society  is  more  their  own  fault  than  the 
"low  type,"  equally  God's  creatures,  too  ignorant  in  ex- 
treme cases  to  know  themselves  they  are  imposed  upon. 
Besides  if  that  is  a  justifiable  reason,  which  classical 
literature  teaches,  it  should  also  show  a  more  moral 
condition  of  classical  society  which  history  and  the  pres- 
ent social  disorder  distinctly  reveal. 

Reform  is  admitted  to  be  necessary  by  persons  who 
are  as  ignorant,  or  appear  to  be,  as  a  child  in  its  first 
desire  to  know  how  it  all  happened.  When  class  litera- 
ture will  so  completely  intoxicate  a  person  as  to  sin- 
cerely believe  that  a  subject  depends  upon  its  object, 
it  is  not  strange  that  they  feel  anxious  for  the  rising 
generation.  It  is  a  mere  pitfall  for  posterity  to  escape 
by  the  inner  Force  that  has  been  disregarded  by  their 
predecessors.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  any  would-be 
reformer,  who  is  so  overcharged  with  pagan  prerog- 
atives as  to  feel  himself  to  be  a  dependent  upon  an  ob- 
ject, is  more  a  subject  for  reform  than  any  natural  man 
that  was  ever  born.  Not  to  see  this  delicate  point  would 
be  a  reasonable  excuse  for  neither  studying  or  practicing 
it,  but  such  persons  should  be  kindly  restrained  or  per- 
suaded from  digging  their  own  pitfalls  deeper  for  others 
to  fall  into. 

A  learned  man  who  is  able  to  postulate  a  hypothesis 
should  have  at  least  ability  enough  to  study  a  fact,  and 
observe  the  Qiristian  relation  between  a  subject  and 
object.  It  is  not  expected  that  a  child  or  illiterate  per- 
son could  readily  be  taught  such  a  relation,  but  what  a 
child  can  be  taught  is  to  have  confidence  in  its  object  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  never  be  able  to  think  for  itself  be- 
yond the  narrow  limits  proscribed  by  its  object.    There 


208  THE   ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 

is  a  provision,  however,  that  the  Scriptures  record  which 
is  figuratively  very  simple,  the  mere  willingness  to  be 
born  again,  for  a  Christian  will  never  wear  pagan 
clothes  gracefully.  To  the  contrary  also  the  inner 
beauty  of  an  honest  man  will  shine  forth  externally  even 
in  greater  beauty  than  Greek  art  ever  imagined. 

It  does  not  follow  that  the  mere  knowledge  of  classi- 
cal literature  is  of  itself  immoral.  It  is  in  the  visionary 
imagination  of  external  beauty  that  gave  to  mythology 
a  brilliancy  that  hides  the  reality  of  life  from  view. 
Can  anyone  be  so  ignorant  as  to  believe  that  pagan  lit- 
erature, such  as  was  permitted  by  the  State  to  see  the 
light  of  day,  was  written  for  the  purpose  of  reforming 
humanity?  What  it  was  written  for  was  an  attempt  to 
prove  that  imagination  (treated  as  a  special  inspiration) 
that  mythical  gods  bestowed  upon  a  favored  few.  The 
very  tone  of  classical  literature  betrays  its  purpose.  The 
naming  it  "classical"  is  further  evidence  of  its  untenable 
character  consistent  with  Christian  democracy. 

A  literature  called  "classical  democracy"  would  be  as 
ridiculous  at  the  present  day  as  for  the  ancients  to  have 
believed,  or  willing  to  admit  it,  that  God  revealed  him- 
self to  every  living  thing.  If  a  person  is  so  imbued  with 
classical  literature  as  to  refuse  to  believe  at  the  present 
time  that  the  revelation  of  knowledge  is  direct  to  every 
thing  that  breathes,  it  is  more  to  the  loss  of  such  a  per- 
son than  to  one  who  knows  better.  It  can  be  seen  there- 
fore if  literal  knowledge,  or  indirect  knowledge  is  to 
continue  to  be  maintained,  it  will  only  be  possible  from 
mythical  imagination  derived  from  the  heathens.  The 
heathens  built  their  feathery  eloquence  upon  the  simple 
natural  fact  that  a  thought  (imagery  of  the  intellectual 
faculty  acted  upon  by  Force  identical  with  God)  always 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  209 

precedes  an  act.  It  gave  the  appearance  that  imagina- 
tion could  transcend  experience,  and  the  fact  that  it  is 
not  only  taught  in  public  schools,  but  doubtless  believed 
by  a  good  many,  is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  believed 
or  even  acknowledged  by  people  who  know  better.  The 
mere  eminence  of  a  man  who  claims  it,  will  not  make  a 
false  principle  true,  even  if  he  can  persuade  a  multitude 
to  follow  him.  Just  as  rapidly  as  people  have  courage 
enough  to  think  for  themselves,  they  will  also  discover 
they  can  imagine  better  things  than  classical  literature 
can  teach  them.  Because  man  by  the  Force  of  necessity 
is  obliged  to  "fall"  that  he  may  know  he  was  born  for 
a  purpose,  it  is  no  reason  present  greed  should  learn 
pagan  methods  by  which  pits  could  be  dug  so  deep  that 
the  possibility  of  a  child  rising  in  knowledge  would  be 
remote,  in  proportion  to  the  ability  of  classical  society 
"breaking  the  wills"  of  their  own  offspring. 

The  same  ethical  principle  of  which  the  pagans  tried 
to  justify  their  inhuman  conduct  toward  the  defenceless 
of  their  own  likeness,  is  very  noticeable  in  modern  writ- 
ings. That  this  is  an  inheritance  from  the  pagans  is  too 
obvious  to  need  verification.  It  is  only  a  step  removed 
from  cannibalism.  If  evolution  writers  can  hide  their 
ostentation  from  their  own  conscience,  it  could  only  be 
since  moral  obligations  had  fled  from  their  thoughts. 
To  take  advantage  of  the  defenceless  multitude  by  the 
mere  noise  of  pagan  prerogatives,  and  by  organization 
seek  to  prevent  a  common  opportunity  to  universal  hu- 
manity, carries  conviction  with  the  effort  to  justify  such 
unchristian  conduct.  If  the  "survival  of  the  fittest"  jus- 
tifies a  continuance  of  classical  society,  what  accident 
was  it  that  destroyed  the  nationality  of  Egypt,  than  the 
Israelites  who  become  so  important  as  to  destroy  them- 


2IO  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

selves  in  striving  to  be  the  "survival  of  the  fittest,"  by- 
trying  to  slaughter  their  entire  surroundings.  After 
which  the  Greeks  who  introduced  the  recording  of  man's 
folly  on  a  grand  scale,  then  the  "noble"  Roman,  who 
tried  to  survive  by  embracing  Christianity,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  Turks  who  took  a  hand  at  the  "survival  of  the 
fittest"  ?  Yet  the  present  state  of  Christianity  more  than 
holds  its  own  against  classical  pretensions.  It  may  be 
the  pitfall  from  which  the  fittest  may  rise,  if  history  is 
any  evidence.  Nature,  only  one  of  the  numerous  names 
that  have  been  assigned  to  God,  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sonal classification,  having  also  a  remarkable  faculty  of 
recuperating  the  waste  of  humanity  in  trying  to  settle  the 
continued  controversy  over  the  question  of  who  are  the 
fittest  to  survive.  The  babe  insists  upon  being  a  factor 
in  the  discussion  even  if  the  wisdom  of  its  predecessors 
insists  upon  calling  him  a  dependent. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  211 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


THE  PETITION  OF  THE  BABE. 


npHE  fountain  from  which  human  language  flows  is 
-■■  from  the  new-bom  babe.  No  man  is  pure  enough  to 
controvert  the  fact  that  the  origin  of  language  is  within 
the  babe,  revealed  to  it  by  a  Force  that  were  it  suspended 
for  a  single  instant  the  earth  would  burst  into  frag- 
ments. Science  has  determined  the  relation  of  matter 
and  Force  to  be  so  important  to  the  continuity  of  life 
that  no  one  can  afford  to  defy  the  Power  that  everything 
in  common  depends  upon. 

The  first  tears  of  the  babe  are  a  rebellion  against  being 
born  amidst  such  surroundings  of  wickedness.  He  is 
only  reconciled  by  the  sweet  nourishment  that  gradually 
convinces  him  he  was  born  for  a  purpose.  To  fall  from 
such  a  perfect  communion  with  God  can  only  be  recon- 
ciled by  its  necessity.  The  parent  at  least  could  not  be 
convinced  but  what  every  act  from  the  first  tear  was  a 
sign  from  which  language  can  be  interpreted;  to  rob  a 
babe  of  the  clear  title  to  the  origin  of  language  could  be 
attributed  to  no  other  cause  than  the  greed  of  man  to  ap- 
propriate every  circumstance  in  life  to  satisfy  his  selfish 
desire.  It  is  only  from  the  rebuke  of  the  babe  that  civi- 
lization is  possible. 

The  first  definite  sign  that  can  be  translated  into 
"tongue"  language  is  observed  by  moving  a  dim  light 


212  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

before  the  eyes  of  the  babe.  If  it  follows  the  light  with 
a  movement  of  its  eyes  the  sign  is  as  distinct  as  words: 
"I  am."  It  also  denotes  that  the  babe  is  in  possession 
within  of  a  Spirit  no  less  than  God.  It  may  be  but  a 
feeble  spark,  but  it  is  no  less  God  and  the  star  of  Bethle- 
hem will  forever  set  if  the  command  of  that  feeble  spark 
is  not  obeyed.  It  may  appear  to  be  a  figurative  transla- 
tion, but  when  was  any  tongue  or  written  language  ever 
formulated  that  did  not  depend  upon  a  figure  of  com- 
parison? The  evidence  of  the  babe  itself  is  better  au- 
thority than  any  written  language,  however  ancient.  It 
can  be  disputed,  but  only  in  like  manner  to  the  dispute 
of  the  written  Word.  The  wickedness  of  man  by  rea- 
son of  his  ostentation  and  political  acquirements  is 
wisely  withheld  from  the  conception  of  the  babe.  In  its 
first  advent  upon  earth  its  own  fall  is  a  blank  and  could 
it  read  its  own  future  it  would  more  naturally  refuse  the 
objective  offerings  on  the  terms  that  he  shall  acknowl- 
edge himself  to  be  a  dependent  upon  surroundings 
wholly  dependent  upon  his  advent. 

If  anti-empiricism  can  manufacture  terms  from  lit- 
eral characters  to  dispute  the  language  of  the  babe — 
the  voice  of  God — the  same  terms  will  dispute  the  writ- 
ten Word  of  God,  for  both  circumstances  are  identical. 
The  babe  is  a  living  witness.  The  Bible  is  a  recorded 
witness  of  an  event  of  an  extension  to  the  same  begin- 
ning. Some  of  the  greatest  scholars  have  exploited  their 
ability  in  trying  to  prove  that  the  Bible  is  not  the  Word 
of  God,  but  none  have  succeeded  in  proving  that  any 
other  Force  could  have  produced  it. 

What  was  ever  a  more  miraculous  event  than  the  ad- 
vent of  a  new-bom  babe?  Christ  exemplified  it  by  liv- 
ing, preaching  and  sacrificing  himself  as  "an  atonement," 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  2I3 

which  no  written  characters  can  better  express.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  dispute  the  poHtical  interpretation  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  babe  can  do  that  even  before  it 
"falls"  from  its  perfect  correspondence  with  the  eternal 
Force,  by  which  means  every  thing  is  compelled  to  fall 
before  it  can  rise.  Philosophers  and  scientists  have  ever 
failed  to  prove  a  more  prominent  first  cause  than  a 
new-born  babe.  The  motive  appears  in  the  interest  of 
polity,  or  some  method  by  which  a  man  can  satisfy  his 
desire  to  be  wicked  and  escape  the  punishment  for  it. 
If  the  future  welfare  of  the  child  is  a  serious  purpose 
of  a  reformer,  he  can  never  commence  by  proclaiming 
the  dependence  of  the  babe  upon  its  predecessors.  The 
political  manipulation  of  written  language  can  never  dis- 
turb the  original,  that  the  babe  exemplifies  as  a  direct 
revelation,  what  the  Bible  records  indirectly  as  a  literal 
revelation.  The  petition  of  the  babe  is  a  command  in 
the  voice  of  God  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  origin  of 
all  things. 

The  babe's  every  act  is  language  more  definite  than 
what  any  written  language  can  ever  attain.  "Why  must 
I  fall  from  Paradise  ?"  ^  Can  it  be  disputed  in  view  of 
the  recorded  events  of  individual  man  as  an  integral 
part  of  every  nation  or  collective  organization  under  the 
sun,  and  to  hide  their  ostentation  by  searching  for  an 
excuse  for  their  own  wickedness  when  the  innocent  babe 
is  assailed  as  a  responsible  being  and  rebuked  in  tongue 
language  for  permitting  itself  to  fall  from  paradise. 
While  man  has  continually  failed  to  establish  any  rules 
of  logic  by  which  they  could  agree  with  each  other,  it 
is  no  less  noticeable  that  man  tries  to  hide  behind  the 
inevitable  necessity  of  a  "fall,"  to  justify  wickedness  by 
what  is  made  to    appear   by  political    parlance  as  una- 


214  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

voidable,  by  reason  of  the  imperfection  of  man.  The 
weakness  of  such  an  excuse  can  be  exploited  by  a  child 
at  any  time  previous  to  its  will  being  objectively  broken 
by  political  chicanery,  for  only  by  the  power  of  the  will, 
which  is  forced  to  act  in  like  manner  to  the  primitive 
fall  can  the  imperfection  of  man  be  overcome.  Imper- 
fection, therefore  is  not  necessary  except  a  person  is 
willing  to  be  imperfect.  In  the  case  of  a  child's  will 
being  broken  in  accord  with  pagan  prerogatives,  the  re- 
sponsibility rests  upon  the  breaker  rather  than  the  bro- 
ken, or  true  logic  can  be  successfully  replaced  by  the 
literal  form  that  is  politically  established.  Limited,  how- 
ever, to  material  things  in  accord  with  literal  character, 
against  the  eternal  Spiritual,  that  the  babe  represents 
and  regardless  of  the  wickedness  of  man  in  striving  to 
break  the  child's  will,  "second  advents"  will  continue  to 
be  repeated  until  the  petition  of  the  babe  is  respected. 
"Beginnings"  will  also  repeat  themslves  in  like  manner 
to  "advents"  for  no  previous  beginning  is  more  impor- 
tant to  man  than  his  own  empirical  beginning. 

Because  a  babe  cannot  prove  to  whom  it  is  indebted 
for  the  privilege  of  breathing,  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  be  permitted  to  breathe.  The  babe,  however,  insists 
upon  breathing,  which  act  is  a  sign  declaring  itself  to 
be  original  language  that  no  written  characters  can 
compare,  for  the  simple  reason  it  never  speaks  in  the 
first  person.  The  most  fastidious  objector  to  the  babe's 
petition  is  usually  a  person  who  considers  it  childish  to 
refresh  his  own  memory,  or  more  often  the  case  with 
person  who  were  never  parents  themselves.  The  little 
spark  of  Force  only  a  degree  removed  from  its  lesser 
protaplasm  exercises  its  natural  right  of  petition  with 
such  muscular    strength,    that  its  virtue    appeals  to  the 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  21^ 

sense  of  love  previously  bestowed  upon  its  parent.  A 
provision  superior  to  state  or  political  edict,  as  illus- 
trated in  the  flight  of  Mary  with  the  babe  Jesus,  from 
the  domain  of  Herod's  authority.  The  truth  is  not  ef- 
fected because  a  person  can  parade  his  superior  muscu- 
lar strength  in  comparison  to  the  weakness  of  a  babe. 
If  strength  was  the  truth,  that  is,  if  the  babe  had  no 
other  protection  than  that  exhibited  by  its  predecessors 
in  the  greed  of  nations,  and  individual  selfishness  in 
material  acquirements,  the  babe  would  never  live  to 
walk. 

It  is  only  from  a  general  view  that  the  figurative  pe- 
tition of  the  babe  would  be  studied,  for  the  sense  of  love 
is  not  an  abstract,  and  to  persons  who  have  been  trained 
to  acknowledge,  and  possibly  to  believe  that  language 
was  revealed  to  the  human  race  at  some  unknown  period 
remote,  it  would  be  a  mere  waste  of  effort.  People  who 
believe  in  the  necessity  of  breaking  the  child's  will  to 
compel  it  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  its  predeces- 
sors, who  have  no  love  for  the  babe,  reason  in  such 
small  circles  as  to  betray  the  fact  that  their  own  wills 
had  been  previously  broken.  Hence  the  petition  of  the 
babe  is  not  directed  to  the  natural  reciprocity  of  love,  but 
to  literal  authority  that  has  been  so  manipulated  by  po- 
litical design,  as  to  make  it  appear  that  an  object  com- 
mands its  subject.  Without  taking  this  error  of  termi- 
nology into  account  the  babe's  petition  would  be  a  blank, 
for  it  strictly  relates  to  an  appeal  for  the  recognition  of 
spiritual  authority  over  the  material,  which  is  the  limit 
of  political  ability  to  command.  It  involves  the  entire 
mass  of  pagan  literature,  and  the  political  sagaciousness 
in  keeping  this  literature  prominent  in  so-called  "free 
public  schools"  is  worthy  of  the  argument  of  the  Phari- 


2l6  THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 

see,  in  contending  that  the  law  of  Moses  transcended 
the  direct  revelation  from  God. 

The  petition  of  the  babe  is  a  continuous  reproof  against 
the  modern  Pharisee  who  continues  to  cling  to  pagan 
prerogatives  in  maintaining  a  vicarious  attitude  in  exact 
imitation  of  the  learned  Pharisee.  The  political  fog  is 
woven  so  thick  by  pagan  literature  to  obscure  the  luster 
of  Christianity  that  the  wonder  is  that  it  continues  to 
exist  potentially.  The  origin  of  language  is  the  key 
to  the  situation  that  every  babe  is  proclaiming  until  po- 
litical chicanery  succeeds  in  breaking  its  will.  There 
is  no  question  but  what  the  force  of  Nature  will  outwit 
mere  politics  which  it  is  constantly  doing,  but  if  abstract 
education  is  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  the  force  of 
Nature  upon  the  ground,  that  the  deeper  the  pit  is  dug 
for  the  babe  to  fall  into  the  higher  it  will  rise,  modern 
educational  systems  have  scarcely  risen  above  the  Hin- 
doos. It  would  appear  to  be  a  trifle  to  consider  the 
origin  of  language  whether  it  was  immediate  or  mediate, 
but  when  men  of  eminent  learning  overlook  concrete 
language  or  become  intoxicated  with  its  abstracts,  the 
cause  of  the  present  social  disorder  could  be  located 
without  searching  musty  books  for  fear  original  princi- 
ples will  cease  to  be  revealed  to  babes. 
The  jealousy  of  nations  against  each  other  reflects  the 
individual  on  a  larger  scale,  for  the  pretence  of  friend- 
ship only  hides  the  concealed  weapons,  hence  society 
which  pretends  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  weak  and 
illiterate  should  observe  how  much  less  the  "low  type" 
of  humanity  need  the  assistance  of  a  society,  lacking  in 
sufficient  self-restraint  to  preserve  itself  from  its  own 
destruction.  The  expectation  of  gathering  Christian 
fruit,  from  the  cultivation  of  pagan  shrubbery  will  con- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  21/ 

tinue  as  long  as  society  persists  in  neglecting  the  petition 
of  the  babe.  It  is  not  prophets  or  prophecies,  that  will 
guarantee  the  future  against  the  social  debauchery  of  the 
present.  History  is  sufficiently  prophetic  to  whosoever 
will  profit,  and  when  a  structure  of  imaginary  wisdom 
tumbles  it  is  the  top  that  always  suffers  most.  The 
tone  of  oratory  that  floods  the  earth  is  effective  in  sound- 
ing the  alarm,  but  like  the  base  drum  in  a  band  of  music, 
it  makes  the  most  noise,  but  has  nothing  inside.  Pre- 
cepts will  preserve  a  passive  condition  of  things,  but  the 
babe  is  a  party  that  insists  upon  activity,  for  the  eternal 
Force  of  things  is  self-protective  against  the  sterility  of 
precedent  seeking  to  map  out  the  future  which  is  only 
revealed  to  babes. 

People  cling  to  their  own  destruction  by  reason  of  a 
perverted  sentiment  that  they  are  specifically  destined  to 
correct  the  necessity  of  a  fall,  before  anyone  could  pos- 
sibly rise.  Such  people  would  doubtless  give  no  heed  to 
the  petition  of  a  babe,  or  any  advent  of  a  miraculous 
character,  that  did  not  correspond  with  their  pre- 
arranged system  of  reception.  The  babe  only  is  pure 
enough  to  represent  the  image  of  God,  and  out  of  re- 
spect for  those  who  feel  obliged  to  think  only  what  they 
were  taught  to  think,  the  phraseology,  that  the  babe  only 
is  pure  enough  to  represent  God,  could  be  changed  by 
saying  the  babe  only,  is  pure  enough  to  represent  the 
perfection  of  God. 

Whatever  vicarious  revelation,  that  literal  signs  re- 
cord as  being  bestowed  upon  any  specific  man,  from 
its  own  tears,  the  fact  is  proclaimed  and  every  effort  of 
adult  man  to  assume  a  vicarious  attitude  in  contempt  for 
the  petition  of  the  babe  will  be  compelled  to  meet  that 
fact,  as  much  so  as  the  babe  who  is  compelled  to  be  born. 


2l8  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

The  Bible  records  the  same  fact  when  it  is  liberated  from 
poHtical  and  pagan  interpretation. 

The  economy  of  education  would  be  resisted  by  state 
and  political  power  because  the  pagan  influence  is  slow 
to  yield  to  Christian  freedom.  It  would,  however,  ex- 
pose the  pretension  that  men  are  bom  to  protect  the 
state,  rather  than  the  fact  from  a  moral  standpoint,  that 
the  state  is  permitted  to  exist  for  the  welfare  of  the  peo- 
ple. An  intellignt  public  opinion  cannot  fail  to  insist 
upon  an  explanation  from  "servants  of  the  public"  why, 
if  education  is  instituted  for  the  purpose  of  making 
"good  citizens"  what  reason  could  be  shown  that  an 
economy  of  methods  would  not  extend  the  privilege  of 
being  good  to  a  greater  number? 

The  civil  government  has  yet  to  be  inaugurated  that 
will  respect  moral  obligations.  State  interest  in  any 
form  of  religion  has  always  been  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  the  state,  regardless  of  any  moral  standard. 
The  state  has  always  declared  itself  to  be  objective  to  a 
subject.  The  American  form  of  government  is  an  im- 
provement over  its  predecessors  in  precepts,  but  sadly 
behind  in  practice,  undoubtdly  due  to  lack  of  experience 
from  the  necessity  of  experimenting  with  a  new  princi- 
ple. As  long  as  the  pagan  folly  is  imitated  by  a  declared 
Republic,  the  same  danger  will  have  to  be  met  that  has 
proved  so  destructive  to  monarchy.  It  is  hardly  reason- 
able that  a  people  can  be  taught  subjection  to  a  principle 
that  is  constantly  betraying  its  own  weakness.  The  State 
cannot  teach  its  subjects  the  use  of  literal  tools  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  protecting  the  dictatorial  character  of  a 
State,  in  accord  with  monarchial  customs,  that  were  only 
maintained  with  illiterate  subjects.  It  is  idle  to  insist 
upon  teaching  a  child  to  discard  its  title  to  direct  know- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  2I9 

ledge  in  exchange  for  the  indirect,  that  the  State  declares 
to  be  necessary  to  preserve  the  freedom  which  it  also 
claims  to  bestow  upon  its  subjects.  If  the  paradox  was 
true  it  would  be  equally  consistent  to  attempt  to  deprive 
children  from,  receiving  a  literal  education,  as  to  continue 
trying  to  break  their  wills  which  were  honestly  bestowed 
upon  them  by  their  Creator.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
determine  the  difference  between  frightening  children 
to  serve  the  dictatorial  attitude  of  a  State,  or  try  to  de- 
prive them  of  their  natural  ability  to  discover  the  same 
fact  under  a  different  name. 

The  freedom  of  religion  was  reluctantly  acknowledged 
by  the  constitution  makers  of  America.  It  was  a  com- 
promise, however,  between  recognizing  the  right  of  pro- 
perty in  man,  or  the  right  to  dictate  his  form  of  religion. 
Greed  was  outwitted  once  at  least,  for  with  the  freedom 
of  religion  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  it  de- 
stroyed the  institution  of  property  in  man.  Now  the 
difference  between  religion  and  education  is  only  what 
the  State  chooses  to  dictate.  It  is  therefore  just  as  much 
an  attempt  to  compel  the  people  to  serve  the  dictatorial 
command  of  the  State  by  a  system  of  education,  as  the 
ancients  tried  to  do  by  means  of  religion.  If  less  severe 
the  intent  is  the  same,  for  the  pretence  of  training  chil- 
dren to  become  good  citizens  is  an  effort  not  only  to 
transcend  Nature,  but  the  Creator  as  well,  for  by  the 
State's  dictation,  principles  can  be  changed  by  giving 
them  different  names,  as  God,  Nature,  and  Force,  identi- 
cal except  for  the  fiat  of  State  authority  to  make  them 
different. 

One  can  refuse  to  listen  to  the  appeal  of  intelligent 
reason,  but  the  petition  of  the  babe  is  the  voice  of  God 
constantly  appealing  to  the  human  race  to  shun  the  path 
of  greed  which  always  leads  to  destruction. 


220  THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

LAW  AND  ORDER. 

TF  a  moral  standard  was  as  universally  regular  as  the 
activity  of  Nature  or  the  force  of  gravity,  or  what  is 
embraced  in  the  realm  of  Spirit,  a  civil  law  would  have 
been  as  absurd  as  to  throw  a  stone  into  the  air  and  com- 
mand it  to  drop  to  the  ground.  Thus  a  presumption 
that  the  regularity  of  Nature,  the  movements  of  planets, 
and  the  never-failing  Force  that  attracts  substances  like 
falling  of  bodies  to  the  ground  are  recognized  by  termi- 
nology as  laws.  This  giving  words  such  a  variety  of 
abstruse  meanings  makes  it  extremely  difficult  to  dis- 
tribute a  comparison  of  thoughts  of  even  a  simple  char- 
acter, almost  impossible.  The  economy  of  education 
once  recognized,  it  would  be  obliged  to  sift  the  incon- 
sistency of  etymology  before  it  could  be  even  called 
economy. 

A  strict  use  of  the  word  "law"  is  confined  to  material 
things.  It  was  divorced  from  spiritual  Force  by  Frank- 
lin, who  did  more  to  conciliate  the  opposition  of  bigotry 
to  the  complete  federation  of  the  Colonial  States  into 
a  combined  United  States  of  America.  It  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of  when  the  word  law  is  considered.  His 
immortal  words  were,  "No  authority  will  be  recognized 
between  the  Almighty  and  the  United  States  of  Ameri- 
ca."    This   virtually  consigned   law   to  material   things 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  221 

and  such  civil  forms  of  government  as  any  people  choose 
to  inaugurate  and  defend.  History  bears  witness  that 
his  prophetic  words  were  not  in  vain.  Because  present 
conditions  are  not  perfect  does  not  detract  from  the 
original  purpose  of  declaration,  that  all  prerogatives 
were  consigned  to  the  junk  heap  by  Franklin,  but  gov- 
ernments never  rise  above  the  moral  standard  of  the 
people  who  compose  it,  for  that  reason  declarations  are 
only  prospective,  and  the  so-called  law  of  God  is  not  a 
law  in  the  civil  sense  of  the  word,  for  if  it  were,  greed 
would  not  be  permitted  to  destroy  itself,  but  to  the  con- 
trary, it  would  never  have  been  permitted  at  all.  That 
the  relation  of  law  to  duty,  command  or  sanction,  is  not 
clearly  understood  because  people  are  so  educated  in 
the  ambiguity  of  words  that  the  wonder  is  that  they  un- 
derstand as  much  as  they  do.  Evolution  writers  are 
concerned  about  the  indifference  of  the  common  mass, 
whether  they  think  or  not,  so  long  as  their  immediate 
desires  are  satisfied.  It  appears  therefore,  to  be  the 
ground  principle  of  the  doctrine  of  Evolution,  to  hold 
it  to  be  a  necessity  for  the  "higher  type"  of  intelligence 
to  do  the  thinking  for  the  "lower  type."  That  doctrine 
would  have  found  a  ready  market  before  the  time  of 
Socrates,  and  no  doubt  tickles  the  understanding  of  the 
greedy  at  the  present  day.  The  principle  trouble  is,  it 
depends  upon  law  which  in  turn  depends  upon  the  defini- 
tion of  the  word  law.  Because  civil  law  is  only  tem- 
poral, the  greedy  would  like  to  believe  it  was  a  Divine 
law  also  by  their  own  fiat.  But  unfortunately  greed  and 
law  both  are  temporal  conditions,  subject  to  no  protec- 
tion from  the  eternal  Force  of  things,  which  is  uncom- 
fortably demonstrated  to  the  greedy  in  ways  so  numerous 
as  not  to  leave  material  enough  for  discussion. 


222  THE   ECONOMY    OF   EDUCATION. 

The  one  great  point  gained  for  the  principle  of  inde- 
pendence, treated  as  a  concrete  principle  as  definite  as 
the  revelation  of  sense  to  the  individual,  was  the  com- 
plete annihilation  of  the  sentiment  previously  held  to 
by  the  entire  civilized  world.  It  was  a  complete  ex- 
ploding of  the  "Divine  right  of  Kings."  If  only  senti- 
ment, in  its  far-reaching  effect,  encircled  the  earth.  A 
true  principle  can  neither  be  added  to  or  anything  taken 
from.  Its  denial  only  reacts  upon  the  person  denying 
it.  It  is  precisely  like  experience  which  is  also  a  princi- 
ple impossible  to  deny  without  betraying  ostentation,  or 
what  is  worse,  a  public  parade  of  ones  own  ignorance. 
Experience,  therefore,  is  a  principle  more  positive  than 
law,  for  when  the  "Divine  right  of  Kings"  depended 
upon  the  ability  of  the  literally  learned  to  quibble  with 
words,  the  principle  was  dead  in  fact,  however  lively  it 
could  continue  to  be  as  a  mere  theory.  It  practically 
consigned  law  to  a  condition  of  political  decree,  for  while 
the  "Higher  Law"  so  termed  remained  the  Higher  prin- 
ciple, it  was  an  uncoupling  of  a  special  revelation  with 
political  authority. 

The  momentum  of  bigotry  is  a  slowing  down  process 
distinctly  evident  in  the  most  orthodox  holdings  to  pre- 
rogatives, for  in  the  absence  of  civil  law  to  enforce  the 
teaching  of  vicarious  privileges,  specifically  bestowed 
upon  any  man,  religion  becomes  what  Christ  preached, 
which  the  primitive  church  tried  to  demonstrate,  but  hav- 
ing civil  authority  to  contend  against  which  also  declared 
itself  to  be  conducted  by  Divine  interposition  directly 
revealed.  The  truth  of  Christianity  was  all  it  had  to 
rest  upon,  and  the  fact  that  it  outlived  its  greatest  op- 
ponent, the  Roman  Empire,  demonstrates  the  fact,  that 
experience  always  comes  to  stay.    Otherwise  Christianity 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  223 

would  have  been  smothered  in  its  swaddling  clothes,  and 
the  Roman  Empire,  instead  of  being  dead,  would  have 
doubtless  continued  to  the  present  time  trying  to  subdue 
the  entire  earth. 

It  is  due  to  emotion  and  a  continued  teaching  of  im- 
agination to  excite  the  expectation  of  youth,  that  ma- 
terial things  must  be  acquired  to  gratify  an  ever  in- 
creasing desire,  until  the  body  will  not  sustain  any  fur- 
ther imposition.  Greed  would  not  be  greedy  if  it  did 
not  suggest  methods  of  self-defence.  It  is  unreasonable, 
therefore,  after  a  person  has  completely  embraced  the 
principle  of  greed,  to  expect  him  to  be  interested  in 
anything  reasonable.  Greed,  emotion,  and  imagination, 
could  be  called  the  science  of  unreasonableness.  It  ex- 
plains why  the  term,  law  is  persistently  maintained  to 
embrace  Spirit  and  Matter  both,  while  in  logic  it  would 
be  impossible  to  demonstrate  it. 

Emotion  develops  into  a  degree  of  selfishness  to  a 
dangerous  extent,  for  that  reason  it  would  be  impossible 
to  call  the  attention  away  from  selfish  convictions  to 
demonstrate  the  futility  of  what  to  a  selfish  person  is 
a  vicarious  privilege  to  command  obedience,  for  an  ex- 
cessively selfish  person  (greedy)  will  show  unmistakable 
signs  externally  against  being  subject,  even  to  moral 
suasion.  To  maintain  there  is  "a  law  of  God"  for  the  pur- 
pose of  justifying  a  law  of  man  is  the  point  in  view,  and 
while  one  could  feel  charitable  toward  a  strictly  greedy 
person,  knowing  full  well  that  no  punishment  could  be 
ministered  more  severe  than  what  greed  bestows  upon 
itself:  Also  the  effort  of  diversified  greed  sympathizing 
with  each  other,  does  not  mitigate  the  punishment  that 
greed  is  compelled  to  submit  to  by  the  order  of  Nature 
rather  than  the  "law  of  Nature"  which  establishes  an 


224  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

important  distinction  between  law  and  order.  These 
words  "law"  and  "order"  are  only  synthetical  when  mis- 
used for  political  effect,  the  words  in  their  common  use 
are  as  opposite  as  the  North  is  from  the  South.  Order 
is  the  force  of  God,  while  law  is  the  limit  of  man's 
authority  over  each  other.  The  futility  of  embracing  Di- 
vine order  by  simply  calling  it  the  "law  of  God"  has 
been  shown,  but  the  privilege  to  accept  it  or  object  to 
it  presents  another  feature  of  the  same  principle. 

No  person  can  be  compelled  to  think  out  loud,  while 
it  is  possible  to  prevent  from  thinking  at  all.  Thus  a 
person  in  perfect  silence  can  often  arrive  at  better  con- 
clusions than  one  who  is  first  frightened,  and  then  per- 
suaded to  submit  to  whatever  political  interests  dictate. 
After  a  man  learns  what  it  is  to  fall  in  infancy,  it  should 
be  observed  that  falls  become  more  difficult  to  overcome 
as  a  person  develops  in  life.  Thus  a  political  pitfall 
usually  grows  deeper  until  it  becomes  a  grave  marking 
the  place  of  defeat  rather  than  one  of  victory.  The  in- 
violate privilege  of  silent  thought  is  by  virtue  of  Order 
rather  than  from  a  political  law.  There  is  no  sight  more 
pitiful  than  to  observe  a  man  who  is  compelled  to  sanc- 
tion a  law  of  political  command  with  an  excuse  of  ex- 
pediency, often  a  necessity  to  preserve  life.  Surely  the 
divine  order  of  things  will  deal  out  punishment  at  some 
period,  however  remote,  with  less  severity  to  the  victim 
than  the  one  who  would  defy  moral  retribution  for  a 
little  material  glory. 

With  a  more  simple  etymology  of  words  there  would 
naturally  follow  an  economy  of  education,  which  would 
only  occur  from  the  personal  of  the  teacher,  when  use- 
less terms  would  gradually  disappear.  For  instance,  the 
terms,  law  of  God,  law  of  Nature,  law  of   gravity,  etc.. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  225 

would  disappear  by  reason  of  their  application  to  the 
immutable  order  of  the  universe.  The  first  objection  to 
such  a  change  of  so  common  a  custom,  would  imply  an 
objection  to  the  fundamental  principle  involved  in  the 
recognition  of  personal  liberty  that  the  American  revo- 
lution wrested  from  the  prerogatives  of  its  predecessors. 
It  would  also  involve  ecclesiastical  authority  which  could 
appeal  to  the  credulity  of  the  ignorant.  But  the  motive 
would  appear  also  as  being  more  political  than  possessing 
any  moral  virtue.  That  greed  will  fight  to  protect  what 
it  claims  to  be  its  own,  would  in  no  sense  disturb  the 
moral  principle  involved.  To  maintain  the  term  "law 
of  God"  to  protect  the  Bible  would  be  pretentious  and 
political  both,  for  if  children  must  continually  be  cruci- 
fied on  the  cross  of  greed  to  protect  the  mere  etymology 
of  words,  there  is  a  motive  apparently  more  important 
than  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  which  has  always  been 
simple  and  more  attractive  to  the  illiterate  than  the  lit- 
erate. No  better  proof  could  be  asked  for  than  the  pres- 
ent immoral  attitude  of  the  literally  educated  and  the 
desperate  effort  of  writers  to  maintain  a  superiority  of 
man  over  man,  which  can  only  be  abstracted  from  the 
Bible  by  the  persistent  clinging  to  pagan  etymology. 
The  simple  sentence  from  the  Bible,  "The  letter  killeth, 
but  the  Spirit  giveth  life,"  means  more  for  moral  prog- 
ress than  all  the  classical  literature  that  was  ever  writ- 
ten. 

In  order  to  maintain  a  political  authority  over  Chris- 
tianity a  vicarious  revelation  in  imitation  of  pagan  myth- 
ology must  be  claimed.  The  spiritual  character  of  the 
Bible  will  not  sustain  any  such  claim,  for  whatever  its 
literal  character  is,  or  from  whence,  there  is  not  a  sen- 
tence which  forbids  an  empirical  reading,  or  any  com- 


226  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

mand  depending  upon  a  specific  interpretation.  It  is 
not  the  present  purpose  to  attempt  to  prove  or  disprove 
the  Word  of  God.  The  empirical  character  of  a  man  is 
not  of  his  own  choosing  and  whatever  revelation  his 
predecessors  may  have  received  it  does  not  detract  from 
the  fact  that  God  continues  to  reveal  himself  to  the 
babe. 

It  is  more  to  the  point  to  observe  that  political  effort 
continues  to  protect  greed,  the  word  being  used  to  ex- 
press an  extravagant  desire.  For  the  same  reason,  in- 
stitutions of  learning  professing  to  improve  mankind 
continue  to  teach  imagination  which  is  not  disguised  in 
its  purpose  to  excite  a  feeling  of  elevation.  Whatever 
virtue  there  may  be  in  such  teaching  its  literal  approval 
is  not  derived  from  the  Bible,  which  is  more  devoted  to 
good  order  than  suggesting  any  methods  of  disorder. 
The  stimulus  derived  from  political  activity  will  not  slow 
down  with  radical  abruptness;  for  that  reason  the  econ- 
omy of  education  could  be  studied  with  a  view  to  the 
danger  of  imbibing  a  good  thing  to  excess.  A  little 
water  would  save  a  man's  life  at  an  opportune  moment 
while  too  much  would  drown  him.  It  could  be  seen, 
therefore,  that  every  step  of  progress  depends  upon  ed- 
ucation, the  same  as  a  razor  will  clean  a  man's  face,  and 
also  cut  his  throat. 

Political  effort  never  ceases  to  effect  by  any  means 
its  own  selfish  end,  which  could  be  seen  by  a  comparison 
of  the  words  "religion"  and  "education."  No  one  would 
object  to  calling  religion  educational  while  abstract  ed- 
ucation could  be  anything  but  religious.  It  is  this  fea- 
ture that  makes  education  a  political  convenience,  in  like 
manner  as  religion  was  formally  considered  necessary 
by  which  means  a  Nation  could  control  its  slaves.     That 


THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION.  22/ 

religion  was  recognized  as  a  principle  of  freedom  in 
the  early  days  of  the  United  States;  although  vigorously 
opposed  by  some  of  the  most  prominent  politicians,  it 
was  finally  incorporated  in  the  Constitution.  Attention 
was  therefore  directed  to  the  control  of  education  which 
was  not  included  with  religion.  The  fact  that  the  cardi- 
nal principle  was  the  same  while  the  words  were  differ- 
ent, enabled  astute  politicians  to  avoid  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  by  appropriating  the  letter. 

If  anyone  can  explain  why  religion  should  be  free,  and 
education  left  to  the  control  of  politicians,  who  are  not 
remarkable  for  religious  attachments,  they  would  have 
grounds  for  an  investigation  that  would  be  more  astonish- 
ing to  the  public  than  minor  affairs  conducted  by  politi- 
cal supervision.  To  leave  this  matter  entirely  to  the 
order  of  God  would  not  materially  effect  the  continu- 
ance of  civilization,  but  if  such  dependence  can  be  relied 
upon,  the  instrumentality  of  politicians  would  be  as  un- 
necessary as  the  absence  of  any  reform  agitation.  It 
would  be  a  proposition  equally  as  profound  as  to  com- 
pare the  relation  of  religion  to  education,  to  determine 
whether  political  law  should  supersede  the  Higher  order 
of  things.  It  is  not  difficult  to  determine  what  should 
be,  but  what  is,  cannot  be  so  conveniently  handled. 


228  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


NATURAL  INTELLIGENCE. 


T  T  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  even  pretend  to  establish  a 
'■'  judgment  of  infallibility ;  it  is  more  strictly  to  the  con- 
trary. Whatever  the  word  "intelligence"  signifies,  the 
important  feature  is  to  decide  by  one's  own  thoughts, 
whether  empirical  experience  can  be  transcended  by  a 
principle  of  vicarious  revelation  giving  the  appearance  of 
divine  authority,  for  a  man  claiming  to  possess  superior 
intelligence  to  transcend  another.  The  fact  that  it  can 
be  accomplished  by  a  greater  degree  of  intelligence  the 
same  as  a  flame  of  fire  is  more  difficult  to  contend  against 
than  a  spark  is  no  reason  that  it  is  a  moral  principle. 

In  kindness  therefore,  from  a  Christian  spirit  between 
man  and  man  in  the  sight  of  God,  has  it  ever  been  proved 
that  natural  intelligence  is  not  the  sum  total  of  all  that 
God  ever  revealed  to  man?  Degrees  of  magnitude 
could  not  in  reason  add  quality  to  any  concrete  principle. 
A  collective  force  can  crush  a  person  of  weak  intelli- 
gence and  also  prevent  such  a  person  from  ever  com- 
prehending the  slight  revelation  that  was  bestowed  upon 
him  at  birth.  The  point  is,  because  collective  force  of 
every  character  has  always  been  more  or  less  controlled 
by  political  authority,  does  that  detract  a  fraction  from 
the  moral  principle  universally  revealed  to  humanity  and 
literally  termed  "intelligence?" 

After  having  imbued  a  conviction  from  the  perception 
of  some  object,  and  also  coming  in  contact  with  it,  caus- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  229 

ing  pain  and  possibly  anger,  it  would  be  absurd  to  con- 
tend that  the  sense  of  feeling  as  a  concrete  principle 
had  become  added  to  what  previously  existed.  The  pain 
subsiding,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  conclude  that  a  like 
cause  would  produce  the  same  result,  as  often  as  a  per- 
son chose  to  repeat  the  experiment,  also  it  could  be  en- 
grossed upon  the  memory  or  forgotten.  In  which  ever 
way  it  was  viewed,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  contend 
that  the  natural  sense  of  pain  had  been  increased.  A 
fire  occurs  and  continues  as  long  as  fuel  is  within  reach 
of  the  flame,  but  the  element  of  fire  neither  loses  or 
gains.  A  rock  falls  to  the  ground  from  a  projecting 
ledge  with  great  force,  but  the  principle  of  gravitation 
would  not  be  increased  or  diminished  unless  a  person  of 
an  imaginary  disposition  chose  to  believe  it,  when  the 
rgular  order  of  gravitation  would  not  be  disturbed  in 
the  least  by  the  decision. 

Mr.  Spencer's  method  of  reasoning  to  prove  that  in- 
telligence grows,  is  entirely  embraced  in  his  effort  to 
prove  the  superiority  of  man  over  man.  In  order  to 
satisfy  himself  that  he  had  proved  it,  he  makes  a  rule 
that  whatever  cannot  be  proved  false  by  the  regular  meth- 
ods of  destructive  reasoning  it  would  be  proof  that  it 
was  true.  Therefore,  if  a  "low  type"  of  person  with 
intelligence  undeveloped,  by  his  doctrine  of  evolution 
was  pronounced  dead  by  the  regular  method  of  deductive 
reasoning  it  would  be  extremely  disrespectful  for  the 
"low  type"  person,  although  alive,  to  dispute  it. 

All  discussions  appear  to  be  confined  to  a  very  small 
circle,  which  is  to  determine  whether  intelligent  force 
has  any  more  intrinsic  quality  than  natural  force,  or  the 
force  of  gravity.  It  can  be  proved  without  doubt  that 
imagination  and  theory  can  be  extended  to  circles  of  un- 


230  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

limited  dimensions,  until  a  man  could  visit  the  moon 
during  the  intervals  of  wakefulness  in  a  single  night, 
but  to  obtain  an  audience  to  believe  it,  would  be  a  more 
serious   proposition. 

What  constitutes  personality  appears  to  be  beyond  the 
power  of  deductions  and  when  two  men  try  to  prove  the 
possibility  of  a  vicarious  altitude  invested  in  any  single 
individual,  by  flattering  each  other  until  both  believe  it, 
it  does  not  detract  in  the  least  from  the  sacredness  of 
a  single  personality,  or  the  impossibility  by  any  known 
method  of  deduction  to  determining  a  single  thought  re- 
vealed direct  to  another  from  a  common  Creator.  For 
that  reason  it  is  strictly  an  empirical  problem  to  believe 
or  not  believe  that  no  addition  of  matter  or  Spirit  had 
been  added  to  the  universe  since  consecutive  "beginnings" 
first  began,  may  the  period  be  remote  or  near.  No  slave 
was  ever  chained  who  could  be  deprived  of  his  sense  of 
liberty,  revealed  to  him  direct  by  the  same  Force  that 
all  intelligence  is  revealed.  Not  to  believe  it  is  more 
loss  to  the  person  trying  to  nurse  his  own  appetite  to  a 
vicarious  altitude  by  the  mere  ability  to  distort  words 
to  serve  his  own  selfish  end,  by  frightening  the  weak, 
persuading  the  credulous,  and  ridiculing  anyone  who 
dared  to  oppose  his  ever-increasing  appetite,  until  greed 
was  mistaken  for  a  still  higher  altitude,  when  it  becomes 
the  master  of  the  human  intelligence  that  was  revealed 
to  him  at  birth. 

It  is  one  thing  to  frighten  a  person  to  a  condition  of 
subjection,  another  to  persuade  him  to  admit  his  inferior- 
ity to  a  person  in  his  own  image,  but  it  is  impossible  to 
compel  another  to  be  willing,  when  the  will  refuses  to 
endorse  the  act.  Intelligence  can  never  be  analyzed  be- 
yond the  personal  experience  of  the  one  attempting  to  do 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  231 

it.  To  meet  all  the  objections  that  could  be  made  against 
a  general  principle  does  not  effect  the  moral  obligations 
of  man  to  man.  One  abstract  can  be  butted  against  an- 
other until  the  person  who  is  the  most  fluent  in  the  use  of 
literal  language  would  appear  satisfied  that  he  possessed 
superior  intelligence,  as  a  reason  why  he  could  silence  his 
opponent.  It  is  impossible  for  a  person  who  clings  to 
his  original  revelation  of  sense  intelligence,  to  be  de- 
ceived by  mere  literal  acquirements,  a  narrow  view  that 
resolves  itself  into  an  extremely  ostentatious  attitude, 
which  may  be  mistaken  for  morality,  or  a  privilege  to 
be  greedy;  a  mere  individual  view  of  liberty  controlled, 
however,  by  a  cultivated  appetite.  Literal  acquirements 
are  no  more  intelligence  than  a  suit  of  clohes  is  a  man. 

Everything  that  moves  by  the  inner  Force  of  which 
everything  is  provided  that  moves  at  all,  is  intelligent; 
even  the  most  minute  protoplasm  could  never  grow  to 
maturity  without  it.  Besides  so-called  dormant  or  in- 
animate creatures  are  possessed  with  a  touch  of  intelli- 
gence, or  such  would  always  remain  dead.  It  is  not  the 
object  understood  that  transmits  natural  intelligence,  but 
rather  the  inner  Force — intelligence  itself,  which  is  the 
power  to  understand.  The  babe  falls,  and  coming  in  con- 
tact with  some  object,  which  it  is  conscious  of  because  it 
cries.  Its  tears  are  the  proof  of  intelligence,  for  dead 
matter  does  not  cry  out.  Call  it  intelligence  or  the 
"breath  of  life,"  instinct,  or  whatever  term  that  polity  or 
the  greed  of  man  could  suggest,  the  immutable  fact  is  not 
changed  whether  a  person  believes  it  or  not.  In  fact,  it  is 
the  more  readily  discerned  by  a  thoughtful  person  to  ob- 
serve another  denying  an  immutable  principle  in  the  ab- 
sence of  which,  the  denial  of  its  existence  would  be  im- 
possible. 


2^2  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Natural  intelligence,  natural  order,  natural  religion, 
natural  education,  and  the  government  of  God,  are  all 
universal  principles  that  no  man  can  change  or  alter. 
Man's  privilege  to  dispute  it  is  balanced  by  the  privilege 
of  another  to  affirm  it.  The  very  word  "freedom"  would 
have  been  a  useless  character  if  no  such  condition  were 
possible.  Man  can  be  trained  to  such  a  condition  of 
personal  conceit  that  he  can  discover  faults  in  Nature 
and  devote  his  entire  literary  ability  during  his  life  in 
trying  to  demonstrate  that  everything  but  himself  is  at 
fault.  Pure  charity,  or  the  touch  of  love  for  a  fellow 
being,  could  strive  over  a  corpse  with  the  purpose  of  re- 
storing it  to  life  again,  with  a  better  prospect  of  success 
than  to  restore  a  conceited  person  to  a  normal  condition. 
The  least  opposition  to  his  opinion  would  be  resented 
as  an  infringement  upon  his  personal  liberty.  Literal 
conceit  will  cling  to  literal  morality,  and  the  more  ability 
one  acquires  in  letters  the  more  desperately  he  will  cling 
to  the  end  he  cultivates.  Because  he  cannot  compel 
everyone  to  respect  his  opinions,  he  always  attributes  it 
to  the  fault  of  his  surroundings.  Doubtless  he  was  early 
taught  that  he  was  a  dependent  upon  external  objects. 
A  respect,  therefore,  for  natural  intelligence,  or  natural 
morality  would  be  as  repulsive  as  to  respect  a  person 
who  dares  to  meet  his  frown  of  disgust  for  anyone  to  ad- 
vance an  opposite  opinion  than  his  own. 

The  system  of  education  with  a  political  purpose  of 
crippling  the  natural  intelligence  of  youth,  is  only  a 
modified  form  of  compelling  him  to  serve  an  end  from 
which  he  is  excluded.  It  is  the  same  general  principle 
that  ancient  slavery  was  founded  upon.  Hence  after  a 
person  becomes  sealed  up  within  a  circle  of  conceit  and 
greed,  nothing  but  the  simplicity  of  natural  morality  will 
preserve  humanity  from  such  influence. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  233 

Natural  good  order  will  force  itself  upon  the  attention 
of  unselfish  reformers  who  possess  moral  courage  enough 
to  "render  unto  Caesar  what  belongs  to  Caesar,  and  unto 
God  what  belongs  to  God."  The  same  political  effort 
to  control  the  present  school  system  in  opposition  to 
natural  morality  has  the  same  end  in  view  with  the  pagan 
officials  were  seeking  to  their  own  destruction.  The 
mere  asserting  that  literal  morality  superseded  the  natu- 
ral, will  doubtless  continue  like  chattel  slavery,  until  the 
parents  realize  they  must  flee  from  it  by  the  force  of  a 
moral  nature  revealed  to  everything  that  lives. 

Natural  morality  is  as  much  a  part  of  human  sense  as 
the  defensive  organs  of  sight,  hearing,  etc.  It  is  there- 
fore absurd  to  claim  that  intelligence  is  an  objective  ac- 
quirement. Natural  intelligence  is  the  only  principle  by 
which  education  is  possible.  That  it  can  be  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  the  political  eagerness  of  man  for  authority 
over  his  fellow  image,  is  the  reason  why  he  is  just  as 
eager  to  control  the  state  which  is  as  dependent  upon 
the  support  of  the  people  composing  it  as  the  people  are 
for  food  to  sustain  life.  The  greed  of  abnormal  man 
would  institute  an  etymology  o{  words  that  would  prove 
his  right  to  usurp  the  authority  of  the  entire  earth.  The 
only  protection  the  multitude  of  humanity  has  got,  is 
the  courage  of  defence  against  a  continual  demand  for 
more  service  and  less  return.  The  political  official  will 
prove  to  the  expectant  youth,  that  a  superior  education 
will  gratify  his  desire  for  adulation  which  is  gen- 
erously bestowed  upon  a  select  few  with  a  patronage 
of  tenderness,  for  which  children  are  particularly  sus- 
ceptible. The  politician,  however,  could  not  be  such 
without  betraying  a  defence  of  his  personal  interest,  by 
an  extravagant  action  to  hide  it.     The  children  are  per- 


234  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

suaded  to  believe  that  only  for  the  paternal  care  of  the 
state  and  the  self-sacrificing  politicians,  are  they  pre- 
vented from  turning  into  wild  animals. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  stately  European 
scholars  laugh  at  the  extravagance  of  political  America. 
The  pretence  of  teaching  liberty  and  servitude  as  com- 
panions is  a  form  of  slavery  that  is  unique.  It  presents 
an  incongruity,  however,  to  teach  a  natural  privilege  to 
be  reached  by  political  control.  Education  is  just  as 
natural  as  intelligence,  but  just  as  dangerous  as  to  at- 
tempt to  enforce  a  specific  religion  when  the  end  is  dis- 
guised by  political  intrigue.  To  obstruct  the  natural 
order  of  things  by  forcing  text  books  into  the  public 
schools  to  inflate  the  imagination  before  children  are 
physically  developed  is  a  form  of  slavery  that  should  be 
emancipated.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  ancient  form  of  slav- 
ery was  as  cruel.  If  America  can  prevent  natural  free- 
dom from  continuing  on  according  to  the  natural  order 
of  things,  by  enforcing  a  specific  liberty,  disguised  as 
liberty  proper,  revealed  to  everything  that  moves,  it  is 
equally  as  despotic  as  any  state  that  ever  existed;  and 
also  ceased  to  exist  on  the  same  lines  that  greed  is  trying 
to  rule  America. 

No  nation  ever  attempted  such  a  wholesale  sacrifice  of 
children  to  gain  a  mere  political  end.  The  recognition 
of  natural  intelligence  was  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  growth  of  America.  Political  greed  will  not  listen 
to  any  compromise  or  concession  and  it  is  the  sacred  duty 
of  school  teachers  to  counteract  the  teaching  of  extrava- 
gant expectations,  for  the  wrecks  of  disappointment  are 
already  scattered  over  the  entire  nation.  An  entire  peo- 
ple of  a  nation  are  being  trained  to  believe  that  mere 
artificial  attainment  entitles  the  possessor  to  live  upon  the 


THE  ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  235 

labor  of  others.  It  is  the  most  elaborate  pitfall  that  was 
ever  dug  for  a  nation  of  people  to  fall  into.  Some  teach- 
ers are  fully  alive  to  the  present  situation,  but  it  is  only 
in  their  individual  action  that  they  can  counteract  the 
combination  of  political  greed  in  collusion  with  insti- 
tutions claiming  to  be  religious,  for  a  single  purpose, 
however,  of  flooding  the  public  schools  with  pagan  lit- 
erature. 

No  nation  can  exist  on  literature,  department  stores 
and  divorce  courts.  The  product  of  the  earth  will  not 
appear  at  the  command  of  either  state  or  political  author- 
ity. No  slave  was  ever  born  that  could  be  compelled 
to  submit  to  a  master  without  a  conflict  with  natural 
intelligence. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

PERSONAL  LIBERTY. 

'PHE  will  is  potentially  strong  in  the  inner  man.  The 
-*•  knowledge  of  its  power  is  a  matter  of  experience.  It 
is  self-revealing,  but  a  transitive  act,  if  governed  by  cau- 
tion from  such  faculties  as  fear,  love,  and  courage.  Per- 
sonal liberty  has  always  been  a  natural  privilege  as  much 
so  as  the  will  and  the  wont.  The  great  significance  of 
the  will,  however,  is  the  fact  that  it  has  baflied  all  phil- 
osophers, theologians,  and  scientists  to  analyze  this  sim- 
ple faculty  of  human  organism.  Hypnotism  is  the  near- 
est approach,  but  strength  of  will  baffles  even  that  mys- 
terious power.     That  a  stronger  will,  which  is  only  a 


236  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

material  faculty  acted  upon  by  the  Spirit  can  perform 
such  a  feat,  is  the  best  possible  evidence  of  the  sovereign 
character  of  the  will. 

Ancient  philosophers  gave  evidence  of  a  recognition 
of  the  personality  of  the  will,  and  also  perpetuity  of  per- 
sonal liberty,  but  all  writers  in  the  past  were  subject  to 
state  censor,  their  writings,  therefore,  are  more  remark- 
able for  trying  to  make  truth  or  hide  it.  This  effort  to 
adjust  science  and  philosophy  to  the  policy  of  state,  gave 
natural  truth  the  appearance  of  being  subordinate  to  the 
artificial  or  literal  authority  dictated  by  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  state,  it  having  no  more  natural  sovereignty 
except  in  degree  than  an  individual  person. 

If  the  word  knowledge  can  be  distorted  for  a  conven- 
ience of  discussion  some  word  should  be  coined  that 
would  express  the  most  important  event  in  human  ex- 
istence. Sense,  experience,  cognition  and  conception  are 
some  of  its  numerous  synonyms,  yet  to  be  true  it  must 
be  a  concrete  fact  from  which  no  abstract  could  be  de- 
duced, for  experience  is  as  personal  as  the  will.  The 
effort  to  deprive  the  individual  unit  of  his  title  to  a  direct 
revelation  has  caused  m.ore  intellectual  exercise  than  was 
ever  wasted  in  seeking  the  truth.  The  Bible  even  bears 
its  share  of  the  distortion  of  facts.  Because  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  conception  depends  upon  the  perception  of 
an  external  object,  a  new  comer  on  earth  is  immediately 
claimed  to  be  a  dependent  upon  his  more  previous  fel- 
lowmen.  To  maintain  this  theory,  ideal  thought  must 
be  held  to  be  superior  to  the  actual  fact  revealed  to  a 
babe,  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  an  object  from  which 
circumstance  some  ancient  politician  declared  it  to  be 
a  sin  to  realize  a  personal  presence  with  one's  self  for  the 
first  time. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  237 

It  is  not  for  the  lack  of  knowledge  that  children  are 
compelled  to  suffer,  but  rather  for  lack  of  attention  from 
their  predecessors,  who  lack  the  courage  to  admit  what 
they  know  to  be  a  fact  themselves. 

It  can  be  claimed  by  those  who  are  chained  to  pre- 
rogatives by  reason  of  their  timidity,  that  instruction  and 
teaching  imparts  knowledge,  but  it  is  not  the  kind  of 
knowledge  that  is  revealed  to  a  child  when  it  comes  in 
contact  with  an  external  object.  Instruction  can  be  good 
or  evil,  but  when  an  instructor  presumes  to  teach  pre- 
rogatives of  which  he  has  no  knowledge  himself,  it  is 
not  instruction  as  a  virtue,  but  more  properly  polity. 

Writers  are  pretty  generally  agreed  that  empirical  in- 
dependence is  a  delusion,  that  is,  it  is  a  "settled"  con- 
viction that  individual  man  is  a  dependent  creature.  In- 
dependence therefore,  that  was  the  glory  of  America 
immediately  after  the  war  with  England,  was  a  mere 
dream  so  far  as  personal  liberty  was  concerned.  Allow- 
ing for  the  moment  that  the  scholastic  ability  of  the 
world  forms  a  peerage  of  such  strength  that  none  can 
enter  it  without  subscribing  to  rules  despotic  as  any  king 
ever  assumed.  If  empirical  independence  is  a  myth,  is 
it  any  more  so  than  the  claim  of  united  scholarship  to 
an  exclusive  property  in  letters,  strictly  subject  to  rules 
tacitly  agreed  upon  to  protect  an  authority  of  state  over 
any  inferior  pretension  to  a  common  property  in  know- 
ledge? When  any  desired  end  can  be  established  by 
literal  words  and  "settled"  by  the  entire  fraternity,  or 
those  who  have  acquired  "good  repute"  which  must  be 
assented  to  by  the  remainder  or  excommunicated  from 
the  country,  it  is  pertinent  to  observe  that  a  delusion 
in  regard  to  personal  liberty  is  equally  as  tenable  as  one 
reached  by  a  scholar  of  good  repute,  when  a  conclusion 


238  THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION. 

must  be  abandoned  simply  because  another  scholar  had 
transcended  him  in  reputation  proving  the  previous  end 
to  be  false,  only  to  be  repeated  by  another  who  becomes 
more  proficient  in  the  game  of  words. 

To  the  strictly  independent  person,  no  less  than  per- 
sonal liberty,  it  is  of  no  material  consequence  whether 
he  is  adjudged  dependent  or  not,  so  long  as  he  retains 
natural  courage  enough  to  maintain  an  unsolicited  birth- 
right. The  contentions  over  this  problem,  as  a  mere 
sentiment,  have  led  to  more  serious  wars  than  any  other. 
Since  the  first  social  state  was  first  organized  for  mutual 
protection,  official  importance  has  developed  to  marvelous 
proportions  until  to  be  an  individual  one  must  be  a  King 
over  something.  After  all  the  wars  and  violent  discus- 
sions over  the  problem,  has  not  personal  liberty  been  a 
fact  all  the  time?  The  greater  problem  is  to  determine 
whether  political  greed  can  continue  to  make  the  people 
believe  they  are  dependents,  which  must  necessarily  in- 
clude the  scholastic  to  prove  that  material  things 
can  transcend  the  spiritual. 

It  is  not  so  much  the  concern  of  so-called  "inferiors" 
for  as  a  whole  they  are  free  from  the  responsibilities  of 
their  superiors,  and  no  external  ostentation  can  entirely 
hide  the  punishment  within.  Thus  we  have  arrived  at 
two  principles  of  personality  that  cannot  be  shaken  off: 
one  of  which  is  responsibility,  and  the  other  that  no 
one  can  be  compelled  to  suffer  the  pain  he  has  individually 
earned,  while  he  tries  to  convince  another  that  liberty 
is  a  myth.  It  is  much  less  consequence  to  the  subject 
than  to  the  scholar  who  dares  not  or  will  not  correct 
his  own  mistakes. 

When  personal  liberty  ceases  to  be  a  fact,  the  last  man 
will  have  passed  from  the  face  of  the  earth.     Civilization 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  239 

is  entirely  due  to  the  natural  adjustment  of  the  vagaries 
of  man  who  would  neglect  his  opportunity  for  enjoying 
the  bounties  of  the  earth  in  ever  seeking  some  one  he 
could  convince  was  inferior  to  himself.  Nations,  doc- 
trines, and  all  institutions  of  an  ethical  character  are 
each  trying  to  convince  the  other  of  their  own  vicarious 
appointment,  to  overcome  the  evil  which  their  own  efforts 
represent.  One's  own  natural  desires,  cultivated  to  a 
condition  of  greed,  will  cause  a  person  to  overlook  the 
regularity  of  natural  order,  while  he  continues  to  insist 
that  the  earth  is  gone  to  pieces  because  he  feels  that  his 
surroundings  are  depriving  him  of  personal  liberty.  Yet 
personal  liberty  is  proved  by  the  continual  effort  of  col- 
lective force  to  condemn  a  principle  that  would  destroy 
even  themselves. 

Man  is  compelled  to  breathe  without  his  consent,  and 
immediately  his  personal  liberty  is  established  for  he 
cannot  be  compelled  to  live;  which  becomes  a  conflict 
between  desire  and  willingness  to  make  the  effort.  If 
he  shifts  the  responsibility  of  his  existence  upon  others 
who  are  contending  with  each  other  for  the  privilege, 
he  must  obey  his  master,  or  he  will  be  thrown  upon  his 
personal  resources,  the  principle  of  which  is  his  desire; 
if  that  is  not  strong  enough  to  incite  the  necessary  ac- 
tivity to  obtain  food,  his  career  comes  to  an  end.  There 
could  be  no  activity  without  conflict  and  the  effort  of 
man  to  organize  a  force  to  deprive  the  individual  of  his 
personal  liberty  is  mere  idle  employment. 

The  right  to  assert  a  vicarious  attitude  to  even  per- 
suade a  person  to  follow  the  doctrine  set  forth  is  bal- 
anced by  the  organization  of  a  counter  doctrine.  It 
demonstrates  a  privilege  equally  as  vicarious  to  main- 
tain an  individual  independence.     It  is  the  principle  here 


240  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

considered  rather  than  the  expediency,  which  is  not  in- 
volved in  the  moral  right  of  a  strict  personal  liberty. 
The  point  is,  the  state  or  collective  organization  is  the 
product  of  the  spiritual  liberty  individually  revealed  at 
birth.  The  effort  of  a  state  to  control  its  own  founda- 
tion, is  only  possible  by  some  coercive  method  in  like 
manner  to  the  master  who  had  to  overcome  the  will  of 
the  slave  before  he  was  of  any  service  at  all.  The  ap- 
petite again  was  the  medium  of  appeal  to  conquer  the 
slave,  but  the  question  remains,  is  it  morally  right  to 
deprive  a  person  of  his  spiritual  liberty  revealed  to  him 
at  birth? 

There  is  no  evidence  but  what  natural  man  is  just 
as  willing  to  be  educated  and  Christianized  as  he  was 
to  be  born,  but  when  greed  makes  merchandise  of  a 
principle  as  free  as  air,  the  only  safe  position  is  a 
strict  independence,  for  no  collective  force  was  ever 
strong  enough  to  force  an  unwilling  service.  That 
this  principle  is  proverbial  since  time  was  first  re- 
corded, it  is  perfectly  idle  for  any  person  to  seek  a 
justification  for  the  sentiment  of  vicarious  superior- 
ity of  one  person  over  another.  Is  the  title  to  such 
assumption  prior  to  that  revealed  to  the  babe? 
Christ  never  preached  such  doctrine  and  the  spirit 
of  the  entire  Bible  from  cover  to  cover  defends  per- 
sonal liberty  against  the  greed  of  collective  force. 
It  would  be  mere  folly  to  discuss  the  Bible  with  a 
person  who  lives  in  so  small  a  circle,  as  to  defend  ab- 
stract doctrines,  against  the  personal  liberty  of  em- 
bracing the  spiritual  character  of  the  Bible  as  a 
whole.  The  church  militant  is  a  political  institution 
in  comparison  to  the  church  of  God  so  radically  cath- 
olic that  a  person  can  join  it  without  asking  permis- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  24I 

sion  or  recognizing  any  other  person  than  the  within 
of  one's  self.  The  coercive  power  of  political  doc- 
trines, or  political  presumption  of  any  character  are 
prompted  by  commercial  profit,  or  natural  desire 
often  inflated  to  a  condition  of  greed. 

Christianity  is  the  very  essence  of  personal  liberty 
that  political  doctrines  have  assailed  ever  since  it 
was  founded,  while  the  chattel  slave  was  held  in 
bondage  by  political  doctrines,  and  after  the  slave 
freed  himself,  political  doctrines  claimed  to  be  his 
liberator.  When  did  a  collective  organization  ever 
yield  anything  of  which  it  got  a  hold?  It  was  the 
fugitive  slave  individually  that  defied  the  entire  polit- 
ical power  of  America.  He  was  no  longer  profitable 
to  greed  unless  he  could  be  either  forced  to  serve  or 
starve.  The  sectional  contest  in  the  United  States 
was  confined  to  contract  labor  in  the  North,  against 
the  slave  labor  at  the  South.  Philanthropy  was  a 
mere  agitating  factor;  political  greed  was  divided  and 
the  free  laborers  at  the  North  of  the  common  order, 
would  harbor  the  fugitives  until  they  were  safely 
landed  on  English  soil.  The  legislatures  of  the  North 
were  compelled  by  public  opinion  to  pass  a  personal 
liberty  bill  in  opposition  to  Federal  law.  It  was, 
therefore,  the  effect  of  moral  courage  rather  than  any 
political  effort,  that  recognized  what  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  the  Bible  had  previously  re- 
corded, that  every  living  thing  is  free  just  as  soon  as 
it  has  courage  enough  to  take  it,  like  the  fugitve 
slave.  Not  to  demand  it  of  a  Legislature,  because  it 
was  his  by  right  of  birth. 

If  a  person  would  study  the  reason  of  things  at- 
tentively  as   between   man   and   man,   as   existing   in 


242  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

perfect  equity,  conclusion  of  moral  benefit  could  be 
reached  with  feelings  of  satisfaction  and  happiness, 
far  greater  than  any  feeling  of  superiority  in  the  mere 
degree  of  possession,  for  it  has  been  the  purpose  to 
show  that  material  things  only  are  expected  by  per- 
sonal volition.  The  realm  of  God  kindly  considered 
as  Knowledge  or  Force,  is  the  motive  power  in  com- 
mon to  all.  It  casts  no  reflection  upon  others  who 
believe  the  definition  of  words  can  only  be  estab- 
lished by  scholars,  who  appear  to  hold  to  ancient  cus- 
toms to  attribute  one  man's  advantage  over  another 
as  special  revelation.  No  account  being  taken  of  the 
simple  fact  that  a  person  in  possession  of  a  mere  vol- 
ume of  Force  could  accomplish  more  than  one  en- 
dowed with  less.  Also  to  accept  the  apparent  fact 
that  literal  instruments  (letters)  can  be  equally  used 
for  evil  purposes  as  for  good,  it  certainly  holds  the 
equality  of  all  that  constitutes  a  man  on  the  same 
footing  regardless  of  the  distortion  of  words  and  the 
rendering  of  literal  authorities  to  give  to  himself  a 
vicarious  attitude  in  a  nation  that  has  grown  great 
upon  the  Christian  principle  of  freedom.  A  usurped 
form  of  government  should  be  obeyed ;  for  to  obey  in 
the  interest  of  law  and  order  with  the  privilege  of 
public  opinion  to  express  itself  peacefully,  is  a  great 
advance  over  the  past. 

Political  supremacy  and  greedy  monopolists  are 
digging  their  own  graves.  The  effort  to  manipulate 
educational  systems  and  sacrifice  children  to  serve 
political  greed  is  scarcely  less  fiendish  than  it  was 
to  sell  children  after  taking  them  from  their  parents 
by  state  authority.  The  State  can  only  exist  by  vir- 
tue of  its  surroundings,  or  personal  support;  other- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  243 

wise  it  would  be  like  a  hole  in  the  ground  that  could 
not  be  located  after  the  dirt  surrounding  it  was  re- 
duced to  a  common  level.  To  live  in  constant  fear 
of  public  opinion  is  not  worth  what  it  costs,  and  ex- 
perience will  be  more  difficult  to  hide  than  the  pre- 
tence of  trying  to  educate  children  to  become  good 
citizens,  when  there  is  no  evidence  that  God  ever  re- 
vealed special  privileges  to  politicians.  The  State 
may  be  sentimentally  considered  to  be  the  creature 
of  political  greed  which  occupies  the  inner  circle,  but 
the  outer  circle  will  always  command  the  food  sup- 
ply. 

It  is  a  significant  proof  of  Personal  Liberty  that 
the  direct  revelation  of  God  can  be  defied  by  literal 
acquirements,  when  a  person  can  claim  the  indirect 
method  of  transmitting  revelation  can  transend  the 
direct.  It  is  also  apparent  that  a  person  can  claim 
an  apotheosis  attitude  for  himself  and  others.  Also 
to  claim  that  a  coterie  of  politicians  can  usurp  the 
authority  of  state  and  defy  the  vote  of  the  people, 
the  right  of  petition,  the  courts,  or  any  one  who  whis- 
pers a  word  against  political  greed.  It  can  in  behalf 
of  personal  liberty  declare  itself  to  be  the  court  of 
last  resort,  when  public  opinion  cannot  be  smothered 
by  political  satellites.  Education  and  religion  relat- 
ing to  the  same  principle  can  be  separated  for  the  pur- 
pose of  evading  the  Federal  Constitution  on  technical 
grounds,  for  a  corrupt  political  system  in  imitation  of 
the  Ancients  must  control  either  religion  or  educa- 
tion; either  will  eflfect  the  same  purpose  to  prevent 
as  far  as  possible  the  people  thinking  for  themselves. 
The  worship  of  greed  being  of  vital  importance  to  po- 
litical   ambition,    pagan    literature    is    forced    upon    the 


244  THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 

public  schools  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible,  because 
religion  was  declared  to  be  free  by  the  founders  of 
American  independence.  Idolatry,  therefore,  is  the 
only  system  of  ethics  that  political  astuteness  can 
depend  upon  to  perpetuate  their  authority,  for  fear 
God  will  discontinue  revealing  personal  liberty  to 
babes. 

Personal  liberty,  however,  is  a  far-reaching  prin- 
ciple, and  the  individual  teaching  having  a  respect 
for  moral  rectitude,  can  discreetly  counteract  the  in- 
fluence of  pagan  literature  and  do  much  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  Christian  principles,  which  are  more 
simple  of  comprehension  than  pagan  ethics,  because 
whatever  is  natural  and  moral  is  always  simple.  It 
is  apparent,  therefore,  that  personal  liberty  is  two- 
edged,  represented  on  one  edge  the  blindness  of 
greed,  when  completely  established  by  the  common 
privilge  of  education.  It  can  reject  direct  revelation 
by  committing  suicide,  it  can  deceive  the  innocent, 
betray  the  confidence  of  the  credulous,  it  can  demand 
service  without  compensation,  it  can  compel  poor 
parents  to  pay  taxes  to  force  their  children  to  be  edu- 
cated in  pagan  literature,  both  of  which  wealthy  par- 
ents are  not  compelled  to  do.  It  can  ridicule  voters 
for  not  electing  better  men  for  office.  But  one  thing 
only,  personal  liberty  cannot  accomplish,  that  is,  to 
escape  the  consequence  of  one's  own  personal  act. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  245 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


DIRECT  REVELATION. 


'pHERE  is  no  circumstance  in  human  life  of  such  vital 
^  importance  to  the  natural  privilege  of  education  as 
consciousness.  It  is  prerequisite  to  recognize  the  dis- 
tinctness between  Spirit  and  substance,  and  to  be 
tentatively  exact,  substance  can  be  analyzed  while 
Spirit  refuses  to  be  weighed  or  measured.  The  fas- 
tidious, however,  can  find  words  to  prove  whatever 
end  they  seek.  When  the  economy  of  education  is 
considered  to  be  of  common  interest,  the  unqualified 
truth  as  a  fundamental  principle  should  be  recognized 
regardless  of  doctrines  or  polity.  Experience  is, 
therefore,  a  revealed  fact  of  an  empirical  character, 
to  dispute  which  would  equally  admit  it.  Intuition 
should  be  admitted  without  objection,  or  tuition  even 
would  have  no  subject;  and  a  predicate  without  a 
subject  would  be  too  absurd  to  consider. 

Theories,  therefore,  should  be  discussed  as  such, 
quite  distinct  from  facts.  The  relations  of  society 
have  nothing  to  do  with  revelation  or  its  Spiritual 
importance  to  the  individual  person.  Society  being 
recognized  as  an  ultimate  end,  for  which  education 
or  tuition  is  equally  proper,  the  direct  revelation 
should  at  least  be  respected,  when  it  can  be  so  readily 
proved  that  it  cannot  be  taught  by  man  to  man, 
which   every  one's   experience   will   prove.     It  being 


246  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  fundamental  principle  of  every  reasonable 
thought,  and  for  that  matter  unreasonable  ones  also, 
besides  the  very  source  of  knowledge  and  intellect, 
it  should  be  at  once  observed  that  personal  relation 
with  God  was  distinctly  established  independent  of 
external  influences.  The  particular  miethod  by  which 
direct  revelation  is  bestowed,  is  of  no  importance 
compared  with  the  impossibility,  so  far  as  revelation 
reveals  of  transmitting  actual  experience  from  one 
person  to  another. 

That  personal  thought  is  a  sacred  communion  with 
the  Spirit  revealed,  should  at  least  be  considered, 
allowing  that  other  circumstances  were  given  greater 
consideration.  It  does  not  detract  in  the  least  from 
any  other  personal  revelation,  of  whatever  character 
or  degree ;  it  is  the  direct  feature  that  constitutes  the 
all-important  fact.  Whatever  doctrine  or  belief  one 
may  be  trained  to  profess  no  one  can  be  forced  to 
repel  a  direct  revelation,  in  fact  a  direct  Divine  com- 
mand that  one  is  always  compelled  to  obey.  After 
revelation  becomes  a  fact  the  only  personal  privilege 
is  to  refuse  to  live,  by  not  recognizing  the  command 
of  any  surrounding  object.  It  may  reflect  a  stubborn 
condition  to  die  rather  than  recognize  command  in 
one's  own  image.  It  merely  suggests  the  immortal 
words  of  Patrick  Henry :  "Give  me  liberty  or  give 
me  death." 

It  is  often  remarked  by  psychologists  that  a  babe 
does  not  know  anything  until  it  is  taught  by  some 
object,  but  what  institution,  collectively  or  individual, 
can  teach  the  babe  as  much  as  God  reveals  to  it 
direct  ? 

It  is  not  immediately  important  to  consider  social 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  247 

duties  in  connection  with  direct  revelation,  it  is  pro- 
per to  recognize  the  most  mysterious  phenomena  in 
human  life  in  its  absolute  distinctiveness.  Polity  has 
no  connection  with  natural  regularity.  Even  admit- 
ting that  ideal  thought  can  conceive  a  purpose  of 
polity  in  a  direct  revelation,  it  must  be  also  admitted 
to  be  imagination  in  opposition  to  a  revealed  fact, 
for  a  comparison  of  revelation  is  only  possible  by 
signs  of  comparison,  which  disclose  a  reasonable  con- 
clusion that  the  sense  of  understanding  is  an  intrinsic 
principle.  The  greater  or  less  degree  does  not  signi- 
fy quality,  neither  does  the  faculty  of  imagination 
permit  of  the  intrusion  upon  the  sacredness  of  a 
direct  revelation.  It  can  only  be  imagined  after  the 
revelation  of  consciousness  and  never  before.  Con- 
ditions imagined  can  be  affirmed  or  denied  equally, 
but  after  a  subject  comes  in  contact  with  an  object, 
the  direct  revelation  cannot  be  denied,  even  by  the 
assumption  of  imagination  that  experience  can  be 
transcended  by  an  abstract  derived  from  a  concrete, 
so  absolutely  intrinsic  as  direct  revelation.  Its  sim- 
plicity could  only  be  objected  to  except  in  defence 
of  some  doctrine  or  polity,  which  would  have  to  be 
imagined  to  transcend  the  very  omnipotence  of  God. 
The  ability  to  distort  words  to  protect  or  encourage 
the  organizing  of  a  support  of  some  doctrine  or  pol- 
ity, is  an  abstract  from  concrete  knowledge  directly 
revealed  to  the  individual  of  whatever  character  in 
possession  of  a  motor  capable  of  moving  itself.  To 
contend  even  that  an  abstract  from  a  concrete  prin- 
ciple can  be  cultivated  or  trained  to  become  superior 
to  the  whole  from  which  it  is  derived,  would  be 
necessary   to   prove   before   the    ability   to   transcend 


248  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

experience  could  be  tenable  as  a  logical  conclusion 
that  every  living  thing  that  moves,  grows,  or  is  acted 
upon  by  Force,  performs  its  respective  actions  re- 
gardless of  the  source  or  from  whence  the  motive 
power.  It  is  this  unknown  Force  that  men  have 
pretended  to  have  had  specifically  revealed,  common 
to  all  ages,  that  the  mere  sentiment  of  superiority  of 
one  man  over  another  is  based  upon.  To  what  ex- 
tent it  may  be  believed  depends  upon  customers  who 
can  be  forced,  trained,  or  persuaded  to  believe  it. 

It  is  of  no  consequence  to  an  individual  what  an- 
other believes,  unless  he  seeks  an  advantage  in  re- 
pelling an  aggression,  or  acting  aggressively.  It  is 
the  moral  sense  directly  revealed  by  the  first  fall  that 
is  involved;  if  it  is  disregarded  the  responsibility  will 
be  as  directly  enforced  as  the  revelation  that  made 
the  act  possible.  To  shift  the  responsibility,  or  try 
to,  upon  one's  surroundings,  might  be  an  external  suc- 
cess, but  an  internal  failure,  as  definite  as  to  deny  a  di- 
rect revelation. 

It  being  admitted  or  rejected  as  the  case  may  be, 
the  exclusive  communion  with  Spirit  is  so  strictly 
empirical  as  to  defy  any  proof  to  the  contrary.  To 
reject  it  is  irreverent  and  immoral ;  to  admit  it  is  to 
discover  more  definitely  the  full  force  of  a  direct  rev- 
elation, and  its  relation  to  material  things.  The  im- 
possibility of  teaching  spiritual  communion  is  the 
point  to  be  observed,  which  experience  alone  can  de- 
termine. It  is  as  impossible  for  one  to  teach  it  to 
another  as  to  attempt  to  teach  the  sense  of  sight, 
taste,  or  hearing.  Thus  it  could  be  seen,  that  it  is 
not  the  object  tasted  that  teaches  the  taste,  but  in- 
stead it  is  the  Force  directly  revealed  to  the  organ  of 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  249 

taste,  Otherwise  if  it  is  the  object  that  can  teach  the 
sense  of  taste,  two  lumps  of  sugar  should  be  able  to 
teach  to  each  their  sweetness.  It  only  concerns  doctrines 
and  collective  organizations  dependent  upon  greed 
and  theories,  to  maintain  the  polity  of  material  re- 
ward for  what  is  mistaken  on  the  surface  of  things 
for  moral  rectitude,  which  only  hides  the  fire  of  retri- 
bution within. 

A  person  who  is  led  away  from  direct  revelation, 
the  only  method  by  which  a  communion  of  spirit  is 
possible,  is  no  more  responsible  for  attractive  in- 
fluences than  an  animal  who  follows  his  natural  de- 
sires. Whether  he  can  be  adjudged  so  by  the  polity 
of  doctrines  or  civil  law,  would  only  stir  up  the  con- 
test between  the  defenders  of  materialism,  deducted 
from  the  pagans,  and  also  incorporated  into  Christian 
ethics  as  a  political  measure  to  give  color  to  the  pre- 
tended right  of  one  man  to  command  another;  sup- 
ported by  the  dogma  of  a  specific  revelation,  a  pagan 
idea,  which  was  forced  upon  Christianity  by  civil 
authority.  It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  deny  or 
afiirm  the  doctrinal  tenets  of  Christianity,  for  there 
are  so  many  that  they  are  fully  competent  to  pre- 
serve or  destroy  themselves,  according  to  the  mag- 
nitude  of  their   following. 

It  is  the  moral  obligation  of  the  individual  to  rec- 
ognize the  direct  revelation,  regardless  of  the  collec- 
tive organization  he  chooses  to  embrace,  for  material 
protection.  It  has  always  depended  upon  moral 
courage  to  defend  the  human  race  against  the  ra- 
pacity of  political  greed,  since  letters  have  recorded 
human  events. 

The  proof  of  a  direct  revelation  is  in  the  fact  rather 


250  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

than  derived  from  doctrinal  controversy.  Literal 
writings  record  the  fact  as  exemplified  by  Christ, 
and  when  did  the  Truth  ever  need  doctrinal  support 
to  prove  it  to  be  true?  Has  the  Truth  ever  failed  to 
protect  itself?  What  has  the  story  of  Christianity 
got  to  do  with  concrete  principle  involved?  A  belief 
in  the  letter  of  Christianity  is  what  nations  have  been 
fighting  over  since  the  15th  century.  The  "new 
learning"  developed  the  fact  that  no  one  nation  could 
monopolize  Christianity,  and  no  abstract  church  could 
appropriate  to  itself  the  pecuniary  profit  exclusively, 
which  the  "dark  ages"  had  demonstrated.  This  is 
not  a  theological  discussion,  however,  it  has  to  do 
with  direct  revelation  and  the  simple  faith  that  Christ 
preached.  Collective  bodies  with  an  honest  motive 
have  always  improved  society,  but  a  strict  holding 
to  doctrinal  importance  is  more  political  than  philan- 
thropic, for  that  reason  the  attributing  to  Christ  a 
specific  inspiration  that  he  did  not  claim,  was  more 
for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  political  bodies  than  to 
advance  the  principle  of  Christianity.  The  distor- 
tion of  words  and  violent  discussion  of  doctrinal  ten- 
ets which  the  laity  are  compelled  to  listen  to  in  si- 
lence, is  more  political  than  religious. 

Whether  it  could  be  objected  to  or  not  on  doctrinal 
ground,  it  will  always  remain  an  empirical  privilege 
to  compare  the  direct  revelation  that  Christ  boldly 
exemplified,  with  what  experience  is  constantly  teach- 
ing to  each  and  every  individual  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  To  obstruct  education  was  formerly  a  po- 
litical measure,  upon  the  supposition  that  the  masses 
were  dangerous  to  society,  unless  they  could  be  com- 
pelled   to  feel    inferior.     The   early    holdings    are    sup- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  25 1 

plemented  at  the  present  time  with  the  same  object 
in  view,  to  maintain  a  class  division  of  humanity.  If 
it  were  not  true,  the  distortion  of  words,  and  the  ex- 
travagant terminology  to  protect  the  exclusive  few 
in  their  claim  to  a  divine  privilege  to  maintain  an 
esoteric  specialty,  would  not  be  worth  the  labor  it 
costs. 

It  is  significant  that  Christ  recognized  empiricism 
and  also  collective  bodies,  upon  the  simple  declara- 
tion of  faith  in  God,  there  being  no  stipulation  of  a 
political  character,  other  than  its  exclusive  material 
character.  No  logical  grounds  exist  for  any  exclu- 
sive privilege  to  a  political  rendering  of  the  Bible, 
it  rests  upon  a  simple  faith  in  God,  and  a  strict  pri- 
vacy of  personality,  that  is,  that  God  was  always 
present  to  the  individual.  If  this  observation  is  not 
a  sufficient  proof  of  a  direct  revelation  to  each  and 
all,  none  can  escape  the  alternative  of  a  political  mo- 
tive, in  thus  denying  to  others  what  they  freely  claim 
to  be  in  possession  of  themselves. 

It  would  be  folly  to  expect  a  person  to  do  his  own 
thinking  after  being  taught  to  believe  that  it  was  a 
privilege  to  be  attached  to  a  "superior"  person,  who 
had  acquired  a  higher  order  than  one  could  obtain 
by  direct  revelation.  It  is  made  to  appear  by  the 
theory  of  a  supernatural  motion,  that  Nature,  in- 
cluding experience,  is  transcended  by  the  superiority 
of  literal  intelligence  over  the  natural,  the  polity  in- 
volved is  naturally  beyond  the  comprehension  of  a 
person  previously  taught  to  accept  the  belief  that 
knowledge  is  objective,  rather  than  subjective;  and 
conceived  by  direct  revelation.  It  is  like  a  manufac- 
turer of  crutches  contending  that  a  man  could  walk 


252  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

better  with  artificial  legs,  and  for  that  reason  his 
natural  legs  should  be  broken.  Direct  revelation  dis- 
proves the  notion  of  a  supernatural,  whenever  the 
will  remains  natural  or  unbroken.  That  this  fact  can 
be  determined  by  an  individual  experience  exposes 
the  fallacy  of  "natural  law"  (which  has  been  ex- 
plained as  not  being  a  law  at  all)  or  anything  natural 
being  transcended  by  the  will  of  man. 

That  the  very  essence  of  Christianity  has  always 
been  the  recognition  of  individual  experience,  in  op- 
position to  political  greed,  it  would  be  a  poor  de- 
pendence for  obtaining  the  truth,  when  direct  revela- 
tion so  emphatically  refutes  it,  not  to  notice  the  dis- 
tortion of  words  to  verify  a  supernatural  notion.  If 
a  person  can  be  trained  to  have  faith  in  political 
greed  against  the  simple  faith  that  Christ  taught, 
such  a  person  could  readily  believe  in  the  notion  of 
a  supernatural,  while  he  would  fail  to  see  the  relative 
character  of  words  to  facts  by  defining  the  word  Na- 
ture as  a  material  substance,  when  experience  con- 
ceives it  to  be  Force  entirely  embraced  in  the  realm 
of  God.  Whatever  was  revealed  to  Christ  pertains 
to  Him  and  whatever  pertains  to  political  greed  is 
to  greed  awarded.  The  worship  of  material  things 
exclusively,  a  spiritual  miracle,  would  be  as  necessary 
as  birth  previous  to  being  conscious  of  anything.  To 
dispute  the  power  of  God  would  be  a  perjury  after 
a  declaration  of  faith.  If  Force  resists  every  analytic 
effort  to  discover  a  presiding  genius,  it  is  extremely 
egotistic  to  pretend  to  explain  its  possibilities  when 
unexpected  events  are  being  revealed  to  personal  con- 
ception that  were  previously  claimed  to  be  impossible. 

If  individual  revelation  can  be  proved  to  be  a  source 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  253 

of  civilization,  which  is  not  the  present  purpose  to 
dispute,  an  economy  of  method  in  teaching  it  would 
be  more  consistent  than  to  continue  building  extrava- 
gant methods  for  proving  that  material  things  could 
transcend  the  Spiritual.  If  the  proposition  is  false 
it  could  be  more  readily  exposed  by  a  short  method, 
than  to  exist  upon  a  long  one,  which  would  practi- 
cally admit  the  proposition  was  truer  than  the  method 
to  expose  it.  Whatever  institution,  either  collective 
or  individual,  claiming  a  purpose  to  benefit  humanity, 
while  continuing  to  extend  the  distance  by  which 
the  benefit  could  be  reached,  proves  a  disguised  pur- 
pose, but  exposes  the  institution  to  be  a  fraud.  Since 
Goliath,  man  has  succeeded  in  intoxicating  his  brain 
with  an  inflated  imagination  that  one  man  can  be- 
come superior  to  another.  It  is  a  material  proposi- 
tion instituted  for  material  gain,  a  new  form  of  idola- 
try with  the  same  end  in  view  that  pagans  failed  to 
reach.  It  is  not  pretended  that  man  is  materially 
equal,  but  without  the  motor  power — Spirit — how 
much  would  material  superiority  amount  to?  David 
proved  that  problem  to  Goliath,  before  the  Greeks 
commenced  to  scratch  their  brains  into  a  condition 
of  vitality.  The  evolutionists  try  to  prove  a  superi- 
ority of  man  over  man  by  the  science  of  analogy,  yet 
the  gulf  between  Nature  and  Art  is  just  as  impass- 
able as  when  Goliath  defied  it,  and  the  Greeks  failed 
to  make  gods  enough  to  bridge  the  gulf.  Now  evo- 
lution and  political  greed  have  combined  to  educate 
the  human  race  to  a  condition  of  intellectual  immor- 
tality and  charge  the  expense  to  the  "vulgar"  and 
"low  type"  of  humanity  until  they  also  become  as 
visionary  as  their  "superiors,"  who  proclaim  a  pur- 


254  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

pose  to  materialize  spirits  and  compel  them  to  serve 
political  greed,  that  ideal  righteousness  may  prevail 
over  the  real,  that  is  directly  revealed  to  every  babe 
that  is  born. 

Direct  revelation  is  not  dependent  upon  doctrines 
or  politics,  because  it  is  the  truth.  Indirect  revela- 
tion is  exchangeable  by  literal  conveyance  v^hich 
multiplies  the  principle  without  increasing  its  intrin- 
sic quality.  Man  cannot  institute  any  system  to 
teach  or  restrain  revelation,  it  is  experience  vi^hich 
also  refuses  to  be  taught  by  the  command  of  an  object 
over  a  subject.  Education,  so  called,  is  an  abstract; 
w^hen  the  w^ord  is  used  to  express  tuition,  as  such,  it 
can  never  supersede  the  natural  which  is  directly  re- 
vealed, being  strictly  limited  to  material  influence. 
When  it  can  be  seen  by  one's  own  light  that  direct 
revelation  insures  a  Spiritual  equity  in  common  to 
all  from  birth  to  death,  the  field  of  political  vagaries 
will  be  narrowed  in  exact  proportion  to  one's  courage 
to  protect  their  own  light  from  being  blown  out,  that 
political  greed  may  profit  by  furnishing  a  light  from 
artificial  reflection. 

Education,  evolution  and  growth  are  a  natural  un- 
folding of  a  direct  influence  that  man  is  ever  try- 
ing to  control  to  prevent  the  common  people  from 
seeing  by  their  own  light.  The  present  system  of 
education  is  a  lottery  which  inflames  the  desire  for 
dollars,  and  the  encouragement  that  a  prize  is  at  the 
option  of  any  one  willing  to  sacrifice  the  best  half 
of  their  lives  in  building  ideal  pictures  of  the  future, 
only  to  discover  that  the  reality  was  confined  to  the 
picture,  and  the  expected  prize  was  a  blank.  The 
contest  between  Nature  and  Art  rages  with  greater 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  255 

fierceness  as  an  attractive  pit  for  youth  to  fall  into, 
except  for  the  direct  revelation  that  protects  the  race 
from  utter  destruction.  The  evolution  educator 
claims  an  evolution  doctrine  pictured  in  detail  from 
the  model  of  Nature,  claiming  evolution  to  be  his 
own  work,  and  exhibits  it  with  ostentatious  pride, 
declaring  it  to  be  a  proof  of  the  supernatural  which 
his  own  egotism  could  be  cultivated  to  believe,  until 
Nature  in  her  beneficent  charity  for  all,  embraces  the 
illusion  within  her  eminent  domain,  with  pity  for  his 
not  observing  that  evolution  was  her  own. 

When  did  man  ever  build  or  teach  higher  than  the 
imitation  of  Nature.  In  color,  architect,  and  con- 
struction, man  never  reached  her  equal — the  school- 
house  free  to  all.  Yet  man  would  still  continue  to 
cultivate  pagan  idolatry  to  satisfy  his  natural  desire 
to  progress  until  becoming  intoxicated  with  greed, 
he  would  declare  by  political  decree  to  be  the  dic- 
tator of  Nature,  and  consign  whatever  he  could 
frighten,  into  a  state  of  obedience.  To  worship 
greed,  and  Christian  simplicity  both  is  a  psychologi- 
cal impossibility.  Institutions  are  just  as  combative  as 
individuals  against  the  order  of  Nature.  A  man  could 
as  well  claim  to  order  the  details  of  his  own  birth 
as  to  pretend  to  order  the  Force  of  revelation  which 
is  the  Spiritual  birth  and  also  termed  experience. 
Every  day  is  a  new  experience  and  every  moment  is 
a  direct  revelation,  and  also  a  miracle.  It  is  the  truth 
and  also  superhuman  from  which  the  word  "super- 
natural" is  counterfeited  to  give  logical  effect  to  the 
political  claim  of  a  superiority  in  man  over  man.  The 
''fall"  literally  explained  was  a  political  scheme  of  the 
pagans    to   justify    chattel    slavery    which    was    con- 


256  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

tinued  by  the  Roman  Empire  which  is  credited  as 
embracing  Christianity.  History  is  at  fault,  however, 
for  it  was  Christianity  that  embraced  the  Empire,  to 
the  destruction  of  its  greed  and  pomp.  Christianity 
is  a  state  apart  from  political  control.  Its  Spiritual 
character,  in  recognizing  a  common  humanity,  makes 
it  a  field  of  exclusion  against  any  political  scheme  to 
profit  by  mere  muscular  strength  over  the  defence- 
less weak. 

Christianity  being  a  conception  of  direct  revelation, 
makes  it  as  exclusive  of  any  abstract  system  of  edu- 
cation as  it  is  of  any  political  scheme.  Any  one  can 
see  the  simplicity  of  Christianity  who  has  not  been 
compelled  or  persuaded  to  blow  their  own  light  out. 
It  has  always  been  considered  dangerous  to  political 
greed  to  recognize  the  Spiritual  character  of  the 
Bible,  but  if  it  was  studied  with  attention,  it  could 
be  readily  seen  that  it  was  more  dangerous  to  ob- 
struct Christianity  than  to  recognize  it.  While  it 
cannot  be  taught  for  the  reason  it  is  directly  revealed, 
the  failure  to  recognize  the  principle  as  superceding 
any  system  of  education  that  polity  ever  devised,  it 
will  be  more  destructive  to  the  so-called  educated, 
than  those  who  are  solely  dependent  upon  natural 
education.  Education  proper  on  lines  of  economy  would 
the  more  quickly  show  how  futile  it  was  to  defy  the 
direct  revelation,  in  the  effort  to  substitute  material 
greed. 


>-       OF   TMt 


OF 
THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  257 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


THEORY  VERSUS  TRUTH. 


'pHEORY,  Speculation,  civil  government,  and  literal 
*  authority  are  transitory  terms  derived  from  art  or 
the  constructive  faculties  of  man.  Contrariwise, 
and  theory  is  parallel  to  that  between  experience  and 
consciousness,  are  in  their  concrete  character  immu- 
table facts.  The  difference,  therefore,  between  truth 
and  theory  is  parallel  to  that  between  experince  and 
the  effort  to  transmit  the  actual  brain  impression  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  be  understood  by  another — lan- 
guage pure  and  simple.  Letters  and  figures  were 
first  used  to  oppress  the  masses  of  humanity  and  the 
teaching  of  them,  education  so-called,  has  been  a  state 
polity  to  the  present  day.  The  defence  of  this  insti- 
tution is  wholly  confined  to  theory,  which  is  the 
ground  principle  of  literal  education,  technically 
termed  speculative  philosophy.  Literal  authority 
depends  upon  a  theoretic  affirmation  that  experience 
cannot  be  compelled  to  confirm.  Hence  the  effort  to 
control  the  will  of  a  child  is  a  state  polity;  the  de- 
clared purpose  to  make  the  man  a  good  citizen,  is 
dwarfed  by  the  real  purpose  of  so  destroying  his 
constructive  ability  as  to  make  him  subservient  to 
state  policy,  controlled  by  social  exclusiveness,  and 
dominant  commercial  interests,  which  in  turn  is  con- 
troled  by  greed. 


258  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Man  can  establish  systems  of  educations  and  teach 
theories  that  in  some  cases  destroy  the  natural  men- 
tality of  the  child,  but  truth  and  experience  is  not  to 
be  trifled  with,  and  even  the  child  can  often  discern 
between  the  virtue  of  experience  and  the  design  of 
polity.  There  is  no  period  in  one's  life  when  moral 
probity  is  more  conspicuous  than  in  childhood.  The 
pretence  of  protecting  the  child  from  abuse,  by  the 
destruction  of  its  natural  faculties,  is  the  worst  form 
of  slavery  that  the  greed  of  man  ever  invented. 

It  must  be  recognized  that  knowledge  and  truth  are 
only  possible  by  virtue  of  experience.  Education  of 
any  character  would  be  impossible  if  the  first  princi- 
ple of  revelation  was  not  recognized  as  the  direct 
source  of  knowledge  and  truth.  State  polity  in  seek- 
ing to  control  the  plastic  mind  of  youth,  is  a  relic  of 
Greek  sophistry.  The  innocent  child  appears  help- 
less to  defend  itself  against  the  greed  of  commerce 
and  political  intrigue.  It  is  only  by  the  direct  reve- 
lation from  God  to  the  individual  person  that  the 
child  ever  knows  its  duty  toward  others.  Because 
one  can  be  misled  is  the  best  proof  that  personality  is 
a  sacred  institution.  Intuitive  action  depends  upon 
contact  with  some  external  object;  if  the  object  is  a 
modern  Herod,  the  directing  power  of  God  inspired 
by  the  love  of  the  parent,  is  the  only  protection  the 
child  has  got  against  the  greed  of  state-craft,  which 
the  present  educational  system  is  mainly  directed  to 
promote.  The  proof  of  it  is  only  possible  by  experi- 
ence, a  principle  that  no  literal  method  was  ever  in- 
vented capable  of  teaching. 

The  distinction  between  truth  and  theory  carefully 
studied    would   expose    the   sophistry  of    state-craft, 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  259 

and  its  strict  dependence  upon  theory  against  sense- 
truth,  or  experience,  always  objected  to  by  the  disci- 
ples of  the  State.  Organization  of  every  character 
is  a  tentative  experiment,  but  has  a  State  or  any  col- 
lective society  a  moral  right  to  control  the  will  of  its 
individual  composition?  An  affirmative  declaration 
will  not  establish  a  fact;  and  the  transitory  character 
of  collective  humanity  is  a  better  proof  of  its  immoral 
conduct  than  any  literal  or  oral  affirmation. 

The  effort  to  make  a  "literal  truth"  the  equivalent 
of  a  sense-truth  has  engaged  the  intellectual  thought 
in  all  ages,  and  for  one  single  purpose,  that  is,  to 
prove  the  individual  dependence  upon  state  suprem- 
acy. If  continuity  and  the  regular  order  of  Nature 
are  evidence  of  the  truth,  empiricism  has  been  a  bet- 
ter example  than  any  system  of  government  that 
man  has  tried  to  perpetuate.  It  is  not  for  the  lack 
of  knowledge,  why  people  appear  ignorant,  but  rather 
to  the  unwillingness  of  the  multitude  to  admit  what 
they  do  know.  Besides  what  appears  to  be  a  para- 
dox is  often  the  mere  elasticity  of  terms  that  really 
exposes  the  polity  of  many  rather  than  having  any 
effect  upon  the  truth.     For  instance : 

A  theory  as  such  may  be  true,  yet  as  a  fact  it  is 
false.  From  an  empirical  standpoint  the  faculty  of 
what  is  termed  "will"  is  just  as  much  a  negative  as 
an  affirmative  power.  Now  when  submission  is  the  prob- 
lem involved,  an  unwillingness  to  submit  presents 
the  highest  type  of  natural  morality,  and  the  fact  that 
the  will  is  a  direct  revelation  form  God  to  the  individ- 
ual, gives  to  personality  a  free  title  to  the  most  sacred 
institution  ever  established  on  earth.  Institutions  estab- 
lished by  the  government  of  God,  do  not  depend  upon 


26o  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

theories  which  represent  the  vagaries  of  man  who  con- 
tinues to  vainly  try  to  rule  every  thing  in  sight.  This 
difference  represents  the  distinction  between  a  spiritual 
government  and  a  civil  government. 

The  child  shows  more  wisdom  in  its  illiterate  state 
than  all  the  theories  that  man  ever  concocted,  for  it 
is  too  innocent  to  know  anything  about  dissembling 
and  what  it  does  know  is  sacred  truth.  Its  relation 
to  society  is  what  theories  are  concerned  about,  while 
the  babe  sleeps  in  happy  ignorance  of  its  own  impor- 
tance. In  the  first  place  theories  declare  that  know- 
ledge is  derived  from  the  predecessors  of  the  child, 
a  falsehood  that  pervades  the  entire  literature  of  the 
known  world.  Next,  that  the  origin  of  language  was 
at  some  remote  period,  is  equally  as  false  as  the  the- 
ory concerning  knowledge.  What  has  the  child  it- 
self got  to  say  about  the  situation,  for  it  is  surely  a 
party  to  the  controversy?  The  babe  cannot  speak 
in  literal  terms;  for  that  reason  the  evidence  it  does 
present  is  a  personal  presence,  unbiased  by  theory 
or  political  intrigue.  It  is  a  revelation  and  miracle 
both,  that  settle  all  the  disputed  points  over  previ- 
ous revelations  and  miraculous  conceptions,  that  the 
ambiguity  of  words  ever  proclaimed.  It  is  a  person- 
ality independent  of  its  predecessors  representing, 
"in  the  beginning,"  in  actuality,  more  perfect  than 
any  literal  paraphrase  that  was  ever  uttered.  The 
state,  society,  and  the  entire  multitude  of  its  predeces- 
sors can  assert  to  their  own  destruction,  by  striving 
to  perpetuate  the  vagary  that  the  babe  is  a  ward  of 
society,  and  dependent  upon  the  will  of  its  predeces- 
sors, whose  title  to  existence  was  of  the  same  charac- 
ter, and  the  sacredness  of  the  power  to  will  or  wont 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  261 

is  the  direct  communion  of  Spirit,  that  constitutes 
personality;  and  the  only  real  protection  society  has 
against  its  continual  effort  at  self  destruction.  The 
child  in  its  weakness  would  be  smothered  at  birth,  by 
the  greed  of  society,  except  for  the  love  inspired  in 
the  parent.  Critics,  and  objectors,  who  are  chained 
to  their  own  crystalized  theories,  would  attempt  to 
prove  the  child's  dependence  upon  indirect  knowledge 
by  the  distortion  of  words  asserting  the  dependence 
of  the  child  upon  its  parents.  The  child  does  not  ap- 
pear upon  the  scene  of  human  greed  at  its  own  re- 
quest. Would  it  of  its  own  volition  seek  a  state  of 
dependency  by  exchanging  one  of  independence? 
State  and  society,  historically  noted  for  its  corrup- 
tion, represent  a  pitfall  for  the  child,  that  accounts 
for  the  necessity  of  contact  with  material  substance 
before  a  conscious  revelation  is  possible.  This  is  a 
truism  that  has  no  relation  to  ideal  imagination,  for 
it  is  only  known  by  experience. 

The  person  who  will  deny  the  clear  title  of  the  babe 
to  its  empirical  personality,  betrays  a  dishonest  pur- 
pose, unless  his  mental  faculties  have  been  crippled 
by  theoretic  training,  when  he  is  as  irresponsible  for 
his  acts  as  if  he  were  dead.  To  define  death  in  defi- 
ance of  the  theoretic  effort  to  destroy  the  will  of  a 
child,  it  is  a  separation  of  spirit  from  the  entire  group 
of  material  organs,  as  effectual  as  to  uncouple  a  train 
of  cars  from  their  motive  power. 

It  is  only  the  dishonest  man  that  knows  how  to 
protect  his  greed,  that  science  or  philosophy  can  ap- 
peal to,  for  the  sincere  man  who  accepts  the  control- 
ing  influence  of  theory,  practically  a  complete  sur- 
render of  personal  will  power,  is  too  dead  to  compre- 


262  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

hend  either  science  or  philosophy.  The  critic  has  a 
remarkable  fondness  for  displaying  his  mental  abil- 
ity in  demanding  proof,  or  a  thorough  accounting  for 
natural  phenomena.  The  personal  presence  of  the 
child,  and  the  ostentatious  presence  of  the  critic, 
should  satisfy  the  most  critical  student  of  biology. 
The  child's  own  testimony  refutes  even  the  demand 
for  proof,  or  any  necessity  to  account  for  its  existence. 
What  better  evidence  could  be  demanded  than  the 
presence  of  the  babe?  Besides  how  can  a  critic  de- 
mand proof  of  another  for  that  of  which  his  own  pres- 
ence is  evidence? 

Whatever  the  truth  may  be,  it  is  not  dependent 
upon  theory  or  speculative  philosophy.  It  is  a  self- 
asserting  principle,  and  if  any  period  of  personal  ex- 
istence can  exhibit  a  more  truthful  state  than  that  of 
the  infant  child,  it  has  yet  to  appear, — a  very  narrow 
objection  to  what  theory  is  pleased  to  call  empiricism. 
It  expresses  a  fear  that  government  and  society  would 
be  in  danger  if  a  natural  truism  should  be  recognized 
against  the  vicarious  authority  of  literal  theory.  It 
is  simply  a  bold  stand  of  man  in  opposition  to  his 
Creator,  besides  an  absolute  denial  of  his  own  expe- 
rience. 

It  is  the  corrupt  state  of  society  that  makes  the  ne- 
cessity for  a  government.  It  taxes  the  intellectual 
faculties  of  all  persons  who  are  more  interested  in 
promoting  greed  than  social  reform.  That  society 
is  self-destructive  would  be  a  better  problem  for  the- 
ory to  speculate  upon  than  to  expend  so  much  energy 
in  striving  to  break  the  will  power  of  the  child ;  the 
very  faculty  that  gives  to  humanity  its  superiority 
of  progress. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  263 

If  the  young  babe  could  speak  in  artificial  words  it 
could  say:  "I  am  in  truth  a  creature  of  God,  teach  me 
truly  the  intricacies  of  art  in  the  spirit  of  love  and 
I  will  remain  true."  To  its  parents  the  child  could 
say:  "Teach  me  evil  and  I  could  become  as  wicked  as 
my  predecessors,  but  teach  me  morally,  and  I  in  re- 
turn will  teach  you  morality,  for  only  truth  can  teach 
truth,  there  being  no  literal  theory  pure  enough  to 
teach  it."  No  person  in  the  presence  of  himself — the 
presence  of  God — can  deny  the  representative  char- 
acter of  truth  and  godliness  in  the  babe  without  ad- 
mitting his  own  wickedness.  Theory  can  proclaim 
that  no  person  is  perfect,  but  can  it  prove  that  the 
child  is  imperfect  because  it  is  ignorant  of  the  the- 
ories of  its  predecessors  ? 

The  etymologist  has  a  perpetual  task  to  find  the 
origin  of  language  when  he  neglects  to  observe  that 
the  babe  proclaims  it  vociferously  at  every  birth.  If 
theory  is  more  important  than  the  truth,  the  corrup- 
tive character  of  state  authority  and  the  greed  of  so- 
ciety would  destroy  the  child  at  birth.  In  the  phrase- 
ology of  theory  it  could  be  affirmed  that  law  and  or- 
der could  not  exist  in  the  absence  of  government,  but 
at  this  point  theory  and  truth  part  company ;  for  truth 
is  founded  upon  natural  government — the  govern- 
ment of  God — while  theory  is  founded  upon  artificial 
government  protected  by  political  duplicity.  How 
to  reform  this  corrupt  state  of  things  is  to  acknowl- 
edge the  empirical  wisdom  of  the  child,  and  also  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  only  personality  perfect  enough  to 
be  classed  as  reformer.  Again,  society  is  more  de- 
pendent upon  the  child  than  the  child  is  upon  society, — 
theory  on  the  side  of  society  and  truth  on  the  side  of 
the  child. 


264  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

PERSONAL  CONSISTENCY. 

'T^HE  relation  between  responsibility  and  authority 
-■•  is  very  significant  whenever  any  collective  group  is 
considered.  That  a  product  of  any  preconceived  no- 
tion can  by  a  succession  of  products  ever  reach  a 
point  by  which  the  principle  of  transmission  may  be 
reversed  until  the  notion  supersedes  itself,  must  be 
admitted  to  justify  an  external  authority  over  an  in- 
ner sense,  which  has  never  been  proved  to  be  other 
than  individual.  A  conscientious  educator  willing 
to  lay  aside  any  political  prejudice  and  examine  facts 
strictly  confined  to  experience,  will  have  to  delve 
deep  into  science  and  theology  to  justify  an  external 
authority  over  an  internal  priority  that  pre-exists  in 
another.  The  mere  defining  of  literal  words  to  make 
an  impossibility  possible,  will  not  hide  the  polity  in- 
volved. Hence  it  must  be  recognized  that  education 
is  progressive.  If  it  is  a  mere  passive  principle  to 
conserve  political  ends,  it  would  be  illogical  and  un- 
reasonable to  claim  for  any  system  of  education  that 
its  aim  was  active  and  progressive. 

If  the  object  of  education  is  more  to  preserve  what 
is  termed  "free  institutions"  it  must  include  the  sci- 
ence of  government,  which  always  involves  a  policy 
of  some  character.  Now  if  subjects  or  citizens  of  a 
nation    must   be   taught   that   all   their   personal   privi- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  265 

leges  are  derived  from  the  State  or  some  society, 
toward  which  they  are  always  to  remain  subservient, 
the  principle  of  responsibility  is  extremely  vague. 
For  any  nation  to  claim  authority  over  its  integral 
parts,  of  which  every  part  presents  a  responsibility, 
cannot  be  justly  considered  without  involving  moral 
obligations.  Therefore  if  a  nation  holds  it  to  be  a 
moral  duty  to  obey  the  command  of  a  state,  to  accept 
whatever  system  of  education  or  religion  its  political 
representatives  declare,  it  follows  that  religion  and 
education  both    must  be  enforced  by  civil  authority. 

Since  Christ  first  taught  personal  liberty,  the  rela- 
tion between  Spiritual  authority  and  political  author- 
ity has  been  ventilated  in  literature  and  upon  a  mul- 
titude of  battlefields,  yet  the  relation  is  still  far  from 
harmonious.  Collective  bodies  are  only  a  multiplicity 
of  strength,  of  a  material  character,  while  moral  re- 
sponsibility remains  strictly  empirical. 

The  enmity  of  nations  in  contrast  with  the  amity 
of  Christianity  furnish  such  an  example  of  the  need 
of  simplicity  in  matters  of  education,  that  none  could 
wear  the  title  of  scholarship  gracefully,  who  would 
advocate  the  teaching  of  a  single  human  being  to  be- 
come a  mere  reservoir  of  indirect  knowledge.  Any 
person  who  would  close  his  eyes  and  ears  to  the  rec- 
ords of  history  and  then  witness  the  present  social 
disorder,  without  feeling  any  responsibility,  becomes 
a  living  example  himself  of  the  present  extravagant 
system  of  education  in  a  nation  proclaimed  to  be  free. 

Is  it  possible  for  a  person  to  defy  the  natural  order 
of  the  universe  and  continue  to  be  a  reasonable  hu- 
man being?  Because  it  is  possible  to  train  one  per- 
son to  perform  like  a  machine  would  it  be  conclusive 


266  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

that  an  entire  nation  of  people  could  be  improved  by 
discarding  the  natural,  and  don  the  artificial  exclu- 
sively? If  it  is  the  privilege  of  one,  it  is  no  less  that 
of  another.  There  is  responsibility  somewhere  for 
this  wholesale  defiance  of  direct  revelation,  for  which 
the  indirect  is  to  be  substituted  in  exchange.  It  could 
be  accounted  for  if  Nature  could  be  proved  to  be  so 
imperfect  that  its  imitations  are  destined  to  transcend 
the  model.  An  artificial  reason  would  compare  fa- 
vorably with  the  wooden  gods  of  the  pagans;  it  would 
not  be  acceptable,  however,  to  a  child  before  its  nat- 
ural faculties  had  been  crushed  by  visions  of  future 
expectations.  It  would  make  little  difiference  what 
intoxicates  the  brain  so  far  as  the  effect  upon  the  per- 
son intoxicated.  It  would  be  no  disrespect  to  the 
principle  of  education  for  it  is  as  natural  as  sunlight, 
but  some  human  responsibility  exists  for  the  multi- 
tude of  human  wrecks,  with  no  lack  of  literal  ability, 
sadly  in  need  however,  of  material  stability.  It 
would  appear  that  animals  have  more  respect  for 
their  direct  instinct  than  man  has  for  his  so-called  in- 
telligence. Natural  conditions  considered  as  equal, 
it  points  directly  to  abstract  education  as  being  re- 
sponsible for  the  situation.  An  intoxicated  person, 
from  whatever  cause,  could  not  be  appealed  to  until 
he  became  restored  to  a  normal  condition.  If  the 
cause  was  an  intellectual  delirium,  it  would  be 
scarcely  possible  that  any  persuasive  effort  would 
avail.  It  is  not  an  effort  at  sarcasm,  it  is  too  serious  a 
matter  and  excites  pity  rather  than  being  an  occasion 
for  wit. 

A  personal   responsibility  for  such   a   misdirection 
of    the    common    privilege    of    education,    rests    with 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  267 

those  who  for  political  reasons  remain  silent  and  thus 
admit  their  lack  of  moral  courage.  From  the  natural 
order  of  things  no  people  can  exist  upon  expectations, 
even  if  an  entire  nation  could  be  educated  to  believe 
it  possible.  There  is  no  beauty  more  beautiful  than 
moral  integrity,  unadorned  even  by  literal  art.  No 
other  attraction  will  hide  the  inner  sense  of  consist- 
ency which  is  strictly  individual.  If  the  will  can  be 
broken  and  crushed  the  victim  is  not  responsible,  and 
if  rational  intelligence  was  bestowed  upon  the  hu- 
man, in  distinction  from  the  animal,  it  remains  to  be 
accounted  for  if  greater  privileges  were  rendered  to 
man  to  enable  the  strong  the  better  to  prey  upon 
the  weak. 

There  is  no  period  in  the  world's  history  when  the 
weak  races  were  not  more  dependent  upon  natural 
resources  than  so-called  literal  knowledge.  Litera- 
ture portrays  the  products  of  natural  phenomena 
which  are  established  as  supreme  authority;  and  by 
the  physical  strength  of  a  state  or  any  collective  body, 
a  declared  status  is  made  and  solemnly  termed  "law," 
which  is  taught  to  children  and  the  defenceless,  to  be 
a  divine  command.  The  direct  precept  of  the  "divine 
right  of  Kings"  has  been  theoretically  abandoned, 
but  the  convenience  of  terminology  finds  other  words 
to  effect  the  same  purpose.  In  practice  the  same  prin- 
ciple is  being  taught  to  youth,  and  called  education. 
It  is  the  worst  form  of  slavery  that  the  human  race 
ever  had  to  contend  against,  for  it  cripples  the  men- 
tal faculties  beyond  recovery.  Men  who  are  honored 
as  modern  lights  of  educational  methods,  recommend 
that  every  moment  of  childhood  should  be  utilized, 
while  the  brain  is  plastic,  and  able  to  be  filled  with 


^2^  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

precept,  for  fear  the  child  would  become  unmanage- 
able if  it  should  chance  to  discover  in  future  years 
that  it  was  born  free. 

The  "supernatural,"  so  termed,  is  only  another  form 
of  expressing  the  ''divine  rights  of  Kings"  and  King 
Greed,  the  modern  ruler,  can  be  just  as  diplomatic 
as  any  ancient  king.  Now  there  is  no  such  condition 
as  a  "supernatural"  except  what  is  derived  from  the 
elasticity  of  words  to  make  it  appear  so.  The  proof 
is  as  simple  as  the  principle  of  Christianity,  to  any 
one  having  thinking  faculties  enough  left,  since  being 
broken  to  the  modern  system  of  education.  The 
touch  of  Spirit  with  material  things  is  strictly  an  indi- 
vidual event,  which  is  just  as  applicable  to  a  leaf, 
flower,  or  blade  of  grass,  as  to  a  human  person.  It  is 
not  necessary  for  any  one  to  believe  it,  but  to  disbe- 
lieve it,  by  declaration,  would  be  a  denial  of  one's 
own  experience.  If  it  was  a  mere  theory  expressed  in 
literal  words,  it  could  be  disputed  by  the  same  literal 
process  in  proportion  to  the  mental  ability  to  distort 
words.  But  a  truth  is  not  a  theory,  neither  is  expe- 
rience or  any  sense  directly  bestowed  upon  individual 
man.  To  classify  the  union  of  Spirit  and  matter,  by 
calling  the  result  a  human  being,  and  then  embraced 
it  in  the  category  of  what  is  termed  Nature,  reveals 
the  importance  of  maintaining  a  theory  of  a  supernat- 
ural or  something  claimed  to  be  unknowable. 

It  is  this  neglect  in  modem  education  that  sug- 
gests the  polity  of  disguising  such  an  important  fea- 
ture as  that  which  relates  to  a  so-called  "supernat- 
ural." It  introduces  the  greatest  complexity  of 
words  to  explain  its  consistency.  The  general  spirit 
of  the  Bible  does  not  justify  the  assumption,  without 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  269 

treating  the  book  as  a  dependent  upon  interpreta- 
tions of  some  collective  organization.  It  would  ex- 
clude an  individual  interpretation,  or  any  purpose  of 
reading  it  other  than  the  merest  formality.  It  is 
equally  true  in  the  interpretation  of  Nature.  If  an 
individual  is  forbidden  to  believe  his  own  experience, 
by  some  external  authority,  that  threatens  immediate 
vengeance  or  future  distraction,  the  political  neces- 
sity of  maintaining  a  theory  of  the  "supernatural" 
supplies  a  motive.  If  any  objection  could  be  offered 
to  the  treatment  of  education  and  religion  collectively, 
a  careful  study  of  history  would  be  the  best  recourse 
for  such  an  objector  rather  than  criticising  the  person- 
ality of  another,  who  could  not  be  forced  to  the  same 
conclusion. 

The  ability  to  distort  words  and  then  call  it  knowl- 
edge of  education  to  accomplish  a  particular  end, 
illustrates  the  effort  to  delegate  the  within  spirit, 
which  constitutes  the  personality  of  every  person,  to 
some  mystical  spirit  of  a  higher  order  externally  lo- 
cated. Thus  Nature,  no  less  than  the  eternal  Spirit, 
by  reason  of  its  being  admitted  in  words  to  be  a  phe- 
nomenon, is  declared  to  be  transcended  by  a  super- 
phenomenon  and  termed  "supernatural."  If  literal 
education  is  designed  to  "uplift"  the  human  race,  the 
most  pressing  need  is  a  vocabulary  of  words  that 
means  the  same  thing  upon  all  occasions.  It  is  this 
feature  that  enables  polity  to  appear  in  such  a  vari- 
ety of  disguises;  besides,  after  a  child  becomes  thor- 
oughly schooled  to  the  present  system  of  etymology, 
no  political  system  would  need  feel  alarmed  about  the 
future.  A  negro  child  of  the  lowest  type,  or  a  white 
child   termed   "white-trash"   at   the   South   would   be 


270  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

civilized  with  less  difficulty  than  a  "finished"  product 
of  the  modern  school  system  in  the  absence  of  prac- 
tical experience.  It  is  with  no  reflection  upon  edu- 
cation as  such,  but  rather  to  show  that  a  strict  belief 
in  the  degradation  of  Nature  to  a  false  position  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  maintaining  a  commanding  au- 
thority of  one  man  over  another,  is  more  political 
than  moral.  If  Nature  is  believed  to  be  a  combina- 
tion of  Spirit  and  matter,  it  could  be  reasonably  held 
that  the  Spirit  was  of  a  higher  importance  than  the 
material,  but  if  the  combination  is  necessary  to  form 
a  union  termed  "nature"  it  would  also  be  necessary  to 
agree  with  the  pagans  in  their  belief  in  a  plurality  of 
spirits. 

Contrariwise,  if  Nature  is  a  mere  passive  substance 
acted  upon,  the  action  must  be  attributed  to  the  one- 
ness of  God.  There  is  no  escape  in  reason  to  either 
declare  for  a  one  God,  or  accept  the  alternative  of  a 
supernatural  with  a  multiplicity  of  gods.  The  politi- 
cal purpose  is  more  apparent  when  it  concerns  a  liv- 
ing personality,  which  is  revealed  directly  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  designated  as  experience.  The  necessity  of 
transcending  experience  to  satisfy  political  greed,  has 
been  the  point  of  dispute  with  philosophers  and  the- 
ologians since  thoughts  were  first  signified  in  words. 
Since  secular  education  was  introduced  to  contend 
with  the  religious  education  of  the  ancients,  the  pro- 
tection of  the  state  was  equally  concerned  in  any 
thing  educational.  A  contempt  for  Nature  was  the 
ground  principle  of  human  authority  as  organized 
in  any  considerable  body,  hence  it  is  no  less  impor- 
tant to  control  modern  secular  education  than  it  was 
for  the  ancients  to  control  what  was  termed  religious. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  27 1 

The  fact  that  natural  education  could  not  be  directly 
controlled,  the  political  ingenuity  of  the  dominant 
class  has  ever  tried  to  maintain  a  theocracy,  in  defi- 
ance of  natural  education.  Practically  a  defiance  of 
God,  unless  Nature  could  be  degraded  theoretically 
to  give  the  appearance  that  the  individual  was  de- 
pendent upon  external  influences  for  everything.  The 
supernatural  therefore,  whether  a  theory  or  the  truth, 
is  a  positive  necessity  to  any  institution  striving  to 
maintain  theocratic  principles. 

The  individual,  therefore,  cannot  escape  a  personal 
responsibility,  which  is  also  all  the  liberty  he,  has  got 
to  choose  between  Nature  and  a  theocracy  founded 
upon  the  supernatural.  All  literature  that  defends 
theocracy  will  be  found  to  cling  tenaciously  to  the 
supernatural,  for  the  reason  that  ethical  authority,  or 
state  authority,  claims  a  moral  right  to  preside  over 
education  and  religion.  But  what  does  not  depend 
upon  theocracy,  is  the  individual  choice  between  good 
and  evil ;  also  what  constitutes  moral  obligation,  and 
what  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  decide  whether 
Nature  supersedes  man's  effort,  or  his  effort  can  su- 
persede Nature;  still  further,  if  the  touch  of  Spirit, 
combined  with  organic  substance,  constitutes  an  indi- 
viduality, who  but  the  individual  can  determine  for 
himself  whether  he  is  dependent  or  independent  of 
external  authority? 

Hence  the  responsibility  being  equally  as  individ- 
ual as  the  action  of  the  will,  what  except  pagan  my- 
thology, and  modern  theocracy,  has  the  notion  of  a 
supernatural  got  to  stand  upon?  An  objector  to  this 
simple  proposition  should  be  able  to  prove  in  equity  by 
what  moral  right  can  any  external  authority  enforce 


2.'J2  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

an  act  upon  an  individual  subject,  and  also  claim  the 
subject  to  be  responsible  for  the  consequence  of  the 
act.  This  inconsistency  is  of  daily  occurrence  among 
the  so-called  educated,  for  after  a  person  has  com- 
pletely surrendered  to  external  influence,  the  question 
of  responsibility  would  be  a  problem  too  deep  for 
comprehension.  Personal  sacredness,  with  moral 
courage  enough  to  assert  it,  would  expose  the  motive 
for  maintaining  the  theory  of  a  supernatural,  and  con- 
tinuing to  teach  it  to  confiding  children,  when  there 
is  no  moral  ground  in  equity  for  teaching  such  a 
myth. 

The  responsibility  for  moral  rectitude  and  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young,  is  an  individual  proposition. 
From  a  material  standpoint  greed  and  selfishness  will 
always  claim  that  the  inner  man  is  but  a  servant  of 
his  surroundings.  The  authority  of  the  prevailing  lit- 
erature substantiates  the  claim,  but  the  direct  ques- 
tion for  the  individual  to  determine  from  his  own  ex- 
perience, is  whether  he  believes  or  only  professes  to 
believe,  that  civil  government  has  never  risen  above 
the  practice  of  a  theocracy,  regardless  of  its  precepts 
or  what  the  form  of  governments  may  be  named. 
The  responsibility  can  be  charged  to  the  indifference 
of  the  people,  but  when  the  State  controls  education, 
and  subsidizes  any  institution  that  calls  itself  relig- 
ious, moral  courage  will  have  to  depend  entirely  upon 
direct  revelation  and  the  natural  order  of  things. 

Man  will  continue  to  "fall"  until  he  learns  by  ex- 
perience, and  from  the  recorded  records,  of  the  mis- 
takes of  his  predecessors,  that  individual  personality 
is  a  more  sacred  institution  than  collective  body 
that  was  ever  organized  on  earth.     He  is  individually 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  273 

punished  by  civil  authority  and  more  severely  pun- 
ished if  he  fails  to  recognize  Spiritual  authority  di- 
rectly revealed,  against  the  external  pretension  of 
teaching  internal  responsibility  for  external  author- 
ity. The  limit  of  collective  bodies  is  the  control  of 
material  conditions,  and  the  effort  of  nations  to  regu- 
late spiritual  affairs  has  always  failed.  It  should 
teach  the  individual  more  than  he  can  learn  in  books, 
that  he  is  personally  responsible  for  every  neglect  in 
disobeying  direct  spiritual  command,  which  is  im- 
possible to  be  conveyed  literally ;  the  literal  being 
confined  to  material  things.  Christ  taught  the  same 
principle,  the  Bible  records  it,  and  to  a  materialist 
reading  it  spiritually,  it  would  read  like  a  new  book. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

CHRISTIANITY. 

IT  7  ORDS  are  inadequate  to  express  Christianity.  It  is 
^^  the  supremest  sentiment  of  experience — sense — 
emotion — and  every  condition  of  life  that  is  self-reveal- 
ing, sealing  itself  within  its  incarnate  surroundings.  It 
can  neither  be  deducted  from  or  inducted  to.  While 
it  effects  material  things  it  is  so  supremely  above 
them  that  it  is  not  effected  by  them.  It  repels  doc- 
trines as  it  does  material  things,  and  therein  it  effects 
all  abstract  education.  The  luster  of  spiritual  Chris- 
tianity is  hidden  by  pagan  literature,  the  mere  husk  of 
generic  Spirit.     The  effort  to  teach  Christianity  by  em- 


274  THE   ECONOMY    OF   EDUCATION. 

bracing  pagan  methods  of  pretending  to  teach  knowl- 
edge, is  more  obstructive  than  comprehensive,  for 
what  is  true  is  indivisible  and  unteachable. 

The  difference  between  the  spiritual  and  material 
universe  is  analogous  to  the  natural  and  artificial, 
the  former  spiritual,  the  latter  figurative  and  literal. 
In  the  absence  of  this  distinction,  combative  doctrines 
are  the  alternative.  Christianity  is  so  strictly  spir- 
itual that  the  effort  to  teach  it  results  in  doctrinal  dis- 
putes confined  to  material  things.  To  understand  it, 
the  difference  between  preaching  and  teaching  is  im- 
portant, the  former  is  an  appeal  to  the  innate  moral 
sense,  while  the  latter  is  a  defiance  of  such  sense,  in 
proportion  to  the  privilege  of  the  will  to  literally  exalt 
things  above  the  spiritual — the  visible  above  the  in- 
visible. It  gave  to  letters  an  appearance  of  deity  that 
elevated  the  learned  in  letters  above  the  unlearned. 
It  suggested  the  making  of  gods  to  awe  the  multi- 
tude; it  introduced  the  principle  of  literal  teaching  to 
compel  by  the  sense  of  fear  a  strict  obedience  to  lit- 
eral superiority.  It  was  the  very  essence  of  heathen 
religion  to  worship  artificial  accomplishments.  Pre- 
vious to  Socrates  it  was  literally  taught  that  souls 
could  be  artificially  made  and  bestowed  by  the  state 
upon  whoever  was  considered  worthy  of  possessing 
one.  To  the  extent,  therefore,  of  teaching  material 
relations  to  spiritual  notions,  teaching  is  unchristian 
and  also  immoral,  for  the  reason  that  whatever  is 
false  teaching  in  a  broad  sense,  is  immoral.  That  is, 
if  morality  is  truth,  whatever  is  false  is  immoral. 

The  effort  to  teach  Christianity  is  either  true  or 
false,  and  the  most  remarkable  feature  is  its  empiri- 
cal character  making  it  strictly  individual  to  deter- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  275 

mine  whether  it  was  true  or  false.  A  careful  study  of 
the  situation  from  a  logical  standpoint  would  result 
in  a  conclusion  that  any  attempt  to  teach  religion  lit- 
erally would  be  false  to  the  very  essence  of  Christian- 
ity. To  teach  religion  is  paganism,  and  it  would  be 
idolatry,  however  beautiful  the  Christian  label  might 
be  externally  decorated. 

Not  to  recognize  the  universal  character  of  Chris- 
tianity would  be  a  denial  of  the  preaching  of  Christ. 
To  observe  the  difference  between  teaching  and 
preaching,  it  would  also  show  the  difference  between 
idolatry  and  Christianity.  The  word  "teacher"  ap- 
plied to  Christ  would  be  a  contradiction  to  the  most 
essential  feature  of  his  preaching.  It  would  make 
Christianity  an  improved  paganism  to  treat  it  as  a 
doctrine,  scheme,  or  notion  depending  upon  instruc- 
tion. 

The  attempt  to  nationalize  Christianity  has  been  a 
continual  failure,  for  the  reason  that  no  notion  has 
ever  existed  with  the  theoretic  authority  politically 
proclaimed  for  it.  Nationality  can  never  rise  above 
material  things,  because  it  is  dependent  upon  senti- 
ent units,  which  establishes  a  limit  of  control,  by  the 
embracing  of  methods,  doctrines,  and  schemes ;  more 
properly  for  defence,  but  nations  grow  aggressive  as 
they  grow  strong,  with  an  inclination  to  overreach 
the  source  of  their  power.  Doctrines  could  only  be 
submitted  to  the  literally  learned  for  discussion  in 
such  esoteric  terms,  so  unintelligible  to  the  unlearned, 
that  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  a  pagan  na- 
tion was  scarcely  more  than  a  change  of  name.  The 
theocratic  philosophy  of  the  pagans  was  supposed  by 
the  learned  to  be  an  infallible  principle;  when  opposed 


276  THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION. 

by  a  learned  man,  it  would  be  treated  with  ridicule, 
rather  than  attention. 

Christianity  as  a  spiritual  principle  is  a  fundamen- 
tal truth  apart  from  organical  association,  it  does  not 
pertain  to  abstract  society,  or  any  collective  body  of 
a  material  character,  which  has  always  proved  itself 
to  be  militant.  According  to  its  influence  exempli- 
fied by  Christ,  it  never  had  a  warfaring  mission.  It 
is  the  spiritual  Church  that  Christianity  illuminates, 
and  as  such,  it  transcends  anything  material,  as  much 
so  as  the  breath  of  life  transcends  the  corporal  body. 
It  was  founded  upon  a  rock  and  dedicated  to  univer- 
sal humanity,  no  less  firmly  than  the  empirical  struc- 
ture of  every  unit  of  humanity.  It  was  not  entailed 
by  any  command  other  than  the  recognition  of  the 
one  God,  so  simple  that  natural  language,  also  a  com- 
mon inheritance,  was  a  sufficient  medium  of  under- 
standing it.  No  doctrine,  scheme,  or  organization 
was  made  requisite,  the  simple  "go  preach  the  Gos- 
pel" embraced  the  entire  principle  of  Christianity. 

It  would  be  difficult  in  reason  to  claim  any  national 
title  to  Christianity,  when  the  learned  of  all  nations 
were  more  ready  to  ridicule  the  principle  than  to  seri- 
ously investigate  it.  At  the  time  of  the  crucifixion 
it  did  not  command  the  respect  the  Salvation  Army 
does  at  the  present  day.  It  is  idle,  therefore,  to  at- 
tribute any  national  importance  to  the  primitive  con- 
ception of  Christianity ;  it  was  too  insignificant  to  ap- 
ply the  word  "Propaganda"  to  it.  This  simple  prin- 
ciple could  well  be  studied  with  great  care,  before 
Christianity  became  supplemented  with  doctrines, 
tenets,  decrees,  and  a  great  variety  of  pagan  words,  to 
consider  whether  it  could  be  embraced  within  the  folds 
of  pagan  philosophy. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  Q.'J'J 

As  a  theological  subject  Christianity  has  been  hon- 
ored with  a  literal  discussion  that  no  other  subject 
ever  obtained,  the  reason  for  which  is  as  simple  as  the 
principle  itself.  It  seriously  interfered  with  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  common  people,  it  was  rather  from 
a  political  than  a  moral  standpoint  that  Christianity 
was  opposed.  Christians,  therefore,  feeling  the  per- 
sonal liberty  that  was  so  courageously  preached  to 
them,  were  forced  to  organize  in  self  defence.  It  de- 
veloped into  a  collective  body  that  was  forced  to- 
gether from  the  necessity  of  hiding  to  escape  being 
persecuted. 

Personal  liberty,  as  a  sentiment  even,  has  never 
been  popular  with  the  literally  learned  to  the  present 
day,  but  the  stronghold  of  paganism  was  entered  by 
Christians  equally  as  learned  as  the  pagans,  when  the 
relation  of  personal  liberty  to  science  and  knowledge 
was  the  issue  rather  than  any  regard  for  humanity. 
To  say  that  the  learned  were  sincere  in  their  defence 
of  pagan  learning  would  raise  the  question,  why  were 
they  disturbed  by  such  a  weak  parade  of  learning  that 
the  Christians  could  command.  It  was  a  self  convic- 
tion of  their  own  iniquity.  The  effort  to  teach  Chris- 
tianity as  a  religion  for  the  poor  and  illiterate  was 
first  suggested  as  a  means  to  obtain  more  obedient 
service,  for  it  was  impossible  to  convince  a  learned 
man  that  spiritual  communication  was  strictly  con- 
fined to  the  individual,  regardless  of  literal  ability. 
It  was,  however,  the  very  essence  of  Christianity, 
which  accounted  for  its  silent  growth,  while  the 
learned  were  treating  it  as  a  doctrine  to  be  analyzed 
by  literal  instruments.  It  was  doctrines,  therefore, 
that  were  taught  in  the  name  of  Christianity,  even  to 


278  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  extent  of  compulsion.  The  attempt  to  teach 
Christianity  is  absurd  when  it  was  a  direct  revelation 
as  disconnected  with  letters  as  a  rose  is  from  its 
name.  The  common  people  were  willing  to  be  Chris- 
tians in  accord  with  the  spiritual  revelation,  but  to 
be  compelled  to  profess  a  doctrine  that  was  taught  to 
them,  it  was  paganism,  even  if  the  varnish  was  called 
Christian.  It  would  appear  from  the  literature  of  the 
present  age,  that  the  empirical  character  of  Chris- 
tianity was  but  vaguely  comprehended.  The  relaxa- 
tion of  state  authority  in  demanding  a  personal  dec- 
laration of  religious  doctrine  is  a  recognition  of  the 
personal  right  to  worship  God  without  the  permis- 
sion of  external  authority.  Thus  personal  liberty  has 
marked  the  growth  of  Christianity  from  its  concep- 
tion, since  which  period  civilization  has  advanced  in 
proportion  to  Christian  learning  overcoming  that  of 
the  pagans. 

It  was  a  scholastic  dispute  of  which  the  simple- 
minded  Christian  has  no  comprehension.  The  "new 
learning,"  however,  was  just  as  greedy  as  the  old,  so 
far  as  the  common  people  were  concerned.  A  com- 
mon privilege  of  education  was  treated  with  the  same 
scorn  as  natural  Christianity.  Every  scholar  that 
suggested  popular  education  became  a  martyr  to 
statecraft.  It  teaches  more  than  science  or  philoso- 
phy, seeking  to  discover  facts,  when  scholastic  con- 
duct was  admitting  the  facts  that  philosophers  were 
trying  to  hide.  When  two  nations  war  against  each 
other,  each  claiming  to  be  a  theocracy,  it  proves  that 
something  besides  the  teaching  of  Christianity  guides 
them.  The  fact  that  theocracy  was  claimed  by  each, 
would  suggest  a  conclusion  that  the  teaching  of  any- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  279 

thing  that  encouraged  personal  freedom  was  heresy. 
It  is  more  conclusive  when  it  is  observed  that  both 
nations  might  claim  to  be  Christianized  and  theo- 
cratic both.  This  fact  by  reason  of  the  impossibility 
of  two  things  occupying  the  same  place,  it  would  ap- 
pear more  probable  that  no  nation  has  ever  existed 
that  could  consistently  be  called,  either  a  theocracy 
or  a  Christian  nation.  A  careful  study  of  history 
should  appeal  to  the  present  school  teacher  who  is 
unbiased  by  political  interests,  for  no  better  proof 
can  be  advanced  than  history  to  establish  the  em- 
pirical character  of  Christianity.  The  personal  re- 
sponsibility of  a  school  teacher  is  very  great,  when 
political  greed  clings  like  a  parasite  to  every  nation 
of  the  earth.  There  is  no  possible  escape  from  the 
choice  of  empirical  Christianity  or  political  greed. 

The  schism  in  religious  congregations  and  also  the 
scholastic  disputes  over  science  and  theology,  relate 
to  methods  of  instruction;  it  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  Christianity  unless  it  is  to  establish  a  hos- 
pital for  people  who  have  had  their  intellectual  facul- 
ties crippled.  A  person  in  a  normal  condition  scarcely 
needs  to  be  instructed  in  what  pertains  to  personal 
liberty,  when  he  has  a  clear  title  to  life,  besides  being 
in  the  possession  of  physical  organs  that  furnish 
the  only  method  of  communication  with  Spirit,  that 
experience  determines.  The  advent  of  Christ  and  re- 
vealed religion  corroborates  the  individual  character 
of  Christianity.  Upon  what  ground  therefore  can  a 
theocratic  congregation  of  people  exist?  Christ 
preached  personal  liberty.  The  American  revolution 
broke  the  militant  power  of  theocracy  and  established 
a  nation  upon  the  same  principle  of  personal  liberty. 


28o  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

with  nothing  but  political  greed  to  interpose  which 
bids  fair  to  be  equally  as  self-destructive  as  theoc- 
racy. If  more  proof  of  empirical  Christianity  is 
needed  it  can  be  found  in  religious  schisms  and  schol- 
astic disputes.  There  would  not  be  any  fuel  for  such 
disputes  if  they  did  not  tacitly  admit  personal  liberty 
by  the  strenuous  effort  to  prevent  it.  There  would 
not  have  been  any  slavery  if  the  slaves  had  not  been 
willing  to  submit  to  it.  It  is  also  recorded,  that 
American  Indians  deliberately  committed  suicide 
rather  than  surrender  their  freedom.  Therefore,  if 
the  spiritual  title  to  personal  liberty  is  not  worth  de- 
fending, it  is  not  worth  having.  History  furnishes 
multitudes  of  examples  to  verify  this  statement. 

A  fastidious  person  could  amuse  himself  by  exam- 
ining circumstances  to  contradict  facts,  but  spiritual 
facts  will  supersede  material  theories  after  all  the  cir- 
cumstances are  exhausted.  The  relation  of  education 
to  Christianity  is  the  same  relation  as  religion  bears 
to  morality,  or  truth  to  that  which  is  false.  Educa- 
tion does  not  imply  sanctification,  for  that  reason  it 
is  a  doubtful  proposition  in  the  absence  of  moral  rec- 
titude. The  conduct  of  some  people  who  give  evi- 
dence of  being  educated  furnishes  another  proof  of 
personal  liberty,  and  also  reflects  the  need  for  moral 
education,  as  a  foundation  for  every  class  of  educa- 
tion. Not  such  superficial  morality  that  depends 
upon  polity  or  status,  but  that  which  is  founded  upon 
spiritual  truth  directly  revealed.  It  is  more  simple 
to  determine  the  truth  than  it  is  to  hide  it;  for  that 
reason  a  very  young  child  could  be  readily  taught  the 
difference  between  the  truth  and  a  theory. 

An  empirical  position  would  be  very  inconsistent 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  281 

as  a  promoter  of  a  collective  organization,  or  a  new 
reform  system.  The  present  social  disorder  is  not 
occasioned  by  collective  bodies,  for  the  privilege  of 
one  association  to  act  against  another,  makes  them 
both  practically  individual.  It  is  a  spiritual  individ- 
uality that  all  collective  bodies  are  composed  of,  and 
the  misleading  literature,  wholly  or  in  part,  derived 
from  the  pagans  depends  upon  individual  effort  to  an- 
nihilate. What  has  the  relation  of  an  obsolete  pagan 
state  to  do  with  an  American  state  founded  upon  per- 
sonal liberty,  or  so  declared  in  purpose?  It  is  only 
necessary  to  give  attention  to  public  orations  to  ob- 
serve the  influence  of  Greek  literature  upon  the  status 
of  educational  systems  and  methods.  A  state  assum- 
ing to  be  an  instructor  of  youth  in  accord  with  pagan 
prerogatives  is  practically  laying  the  foundation  of 
revolution,  for  the  American  people  will  never  sub- 
mit cheerfully  to  a  theocratic  form  of  government. 
It  is  idle  to  talk  about  public  opinion  and  the  will  of 
the  people,  when  the  grip  of  greed  is  already  in  posses- 
sion of  the  government,  and  even  the  public  schools 
are  politically  controlled,  which  are  a  mere  supple- 
ment to  commercialism. 

The  test  of  educational  honesty  is  as  simple  as  the 
system  could  also  be  conducted,  for  where  a  prefer- 
ence for  extravagance  is  claimed,  a  political  motive  is 
also  apparent.  It  would  be  too  voluminous  to  specify 
the  defects  in  educational  systems.  It  is  the  general 
immoral  results  that  are  more  impressive  than  words, 
which  the  political  mantle  will  not  be  able  to  hide 
continually.  An  economy  in  the  teaching  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  would  dispense  with  a  good  many  pa- 
gan relics.     The  natural  sense  of  the  individual  can 


282  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

be  appealed  to  before  the  will  is  broken,  after  which 
it  becomes  an  uncertain  problem.  Machine  perfec- 
tion does  not  apply  to  a  human  being,  for  the  auton- 
omy of  man  will  not  permit  of  machine  perfection. 
Nature  is  constantly  supplying  a  model  for  conduct 
that  pagan  text  books  will  never  compete  with  suc- 
cessfully. 

A  commercial  traffic  in  wickedness  will  defend  it- 
self on  the  ground  of  personal  liberty,^  which  would 
establish  a  confusion  of  activity  often  referred  to  in 
the  science  of  sociology.  But  any  defence  of  a  collec- 
tive system  or  any  scientific  doctrine  will  be  biased  by 
a  specific  end  in  view,  therefore,  whatever  applies  to 
the  immutability  of  spiritual  or  natural  activity  is  nec- 
essarily empirical  even  if  it  is  an  integral  part  of  a  spe- 
cific society.  In  observing  society  as  a  moral  influ- 
ence it  should  be  noted  that  it  is  just  as  possible  for 
it  to  be  immoral  as  for  an  individual.  The  point  is, 
society  depends  upon  its  integral  parts ;  it  is  impos- 
sible, therefore,  for  society  to  command  a  single  part 
in  the  possession  of  an  individual  will.  Society  can 
punish,  execute,  and  even  murder  any  of  its  parts, 
yet  the  fact  would  remain  that  the  empirical  part 
would  be  nearer  to  God  from  the  immutable  reason 
that  the  exclusive  communion  with  Spirit  is  always 
individual. 

The  empirical  character  of  Christianity  is  its  very 
life.  It  resists  every  attempt  to  nationalize  it,  and 
also  refuses  to  be  governed  by  any  specific  organiza- 
tion, which  the  Crucifixion  also  exemplified. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  283 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


CHURCH  GOVERNMENT. 


pHURCH  government  is  as  distinct  from  the  spiritual 
^  Church,  as  the  material  of  which  meeting  houses  are 
built  is  distinct  from  the  activity  of  Nature  that  sup- 
plied the  material.  "Consecration"  is  a  term  derived 
from  the  pagans;  it  is  doubtless  very  misleading,  for  it 
has  no  sacred  significance  at  the  present  time,  unless  a 
person  chooses  to  believe  it;  but  it  will  not  embrace  a 
privilege  of  persecution  toward  those  who  choose  to  dis- 
believe it.  Shorn  of  its  pagan  significance  it  is  at  present 
a  mere  figure  of  speech,  for  the  consecration  of  wood  in 
its  strict  sense,  would  be  the  fundamental  principle. 
Since  the  advent  of  Christianity,  political  religion  grows 
more  and  more  unpopular. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  enter  into  a  theological 
controversy,  for  the  empirical  personality  of  a  human 
being  permits  of  an  individual  reading  and  also  interpret- 
ing of  the  Scriptures.  The  Founders  of  Christianity 
preached  a  universal  privilege  of  salvation,  with  ex- 
tremely simple  conditions.  It  was  in  no  wise  connected 
with  collective  organization,  leaving  individuals  account- 
able to  the  one  God.  If  the  word  "church"  has  any  sig- 
nificance at  all  in  relation  to  Christianity,  it  is  therefore 
as  invisible  as  experience,  or  any  inner  sense  exclusively 
individual,  the  recognition  of  personal  liberty  that  could 


284  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

not  be  controverted  in  any  language,  either  written  or 
oral. 

In  connection  with  "preaching  the  gospel,"  the  neces- 
sity of  a  government  as  a  protection  against  aggression 
and  persecution  was  a  natural  sequence.  It  did  not  sig- 
nify a  Church  government,  as  such  was  for  the  purpose 
of  proselyting,  or  aggression,  for  to  make  an  effort  to 
compel  a  person  to  be  a  Christian  was  not  only  impos- 
sible, but  contrary  to  the  example  of  Christ  to  even  at- 
tempt it. 

Regardless  of  a  government  assuming  to  be  aggressive, 
and  instructive,  its  genesis  was  for  the  purpose  of  protec- 
tion. To  regard  it  as  a  system  of  protection,  irrespective 
of  theocratic  proclivities,  it  could  readily  be  seen  that  it 
had  no  authority  to  supplement  the  primitive  simplicity 
of  the  early  Christian  Church.  As  a  protection  to  collec- 
tive organizations,  seeking  to  worship  God,  the  limit  of 
Church  government  would  have  been  reached.  The  ag- 
gregation of  power,  however,  proved  that  Church  offi- 
cials could  become  victims  of  aggrandizement,  equally  as 
keen  for  material  profit,  as  any  political  official.  This  es- 
tablished a  Church  militant,  its  material  visibility  was 
proved  by  its  aggressive  effort  to  conquer  the  world  by 
force  of  arms. 

It  may  have  been  instigated  by  state-craft  and  the 
ability  of  the  learned  to  distort  words,  it  certainly  estab- 
lished a  visible  Church  claiming  all  the  prerogatives  of 
the  invisible.  The  spiritual  Church,  however,  proved 
itself  to  be  above  state-craft,  or  Church  government,  to 
strictly  replace  the  invisible  Church  by  one  that  was  vis- 
ible. History  is  filled  with  the  record  of  how  the  learned 
and  greedy  contended  for  a  visible  Church  to  replace  the 
invisible,  and  if  the  "new  learning"  and  war,  could  have 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  285 

conquered  the  simple  faith  of  the  common  people,  the 
term  "Christian  Church"  would  have  been  expunged 
from  literature. 

To  preach  the  gospel  and  worship  God  did  not  involve 
a  government;  for  that  reason  the  introduction  of  a  col- 
lective organization,  bearing  the  name  of  Church,  it  was 
visible  by  virtue  of  the  government.  In  a  strict  sense, 
therefore,  it  was  the  government  which  required  human, 
official  and  political  management  that  was  visible.  The 
Gospels  were  the  sayings  of  Jesus  Christ — the  Truth. 
The  truth  as  a  sense  conviction — experience — it  could 
only  be  symbolized  by  literal  words.  Hence  if  the  word 
"Church"  was  employed  to  represent  the  Gospels  it 
should  properly  partake  of  the  invisible  character  of 
whatever  Christ's  sayings  were.  If  there  were  only 
written  words  to  preserve  the  spiritual  character  of  the 
Gospels,  they  would  have  been  worn  out  by  controversy 
previous  to  this  late  day.  It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to 
prove  that  literal  words  can  be  distorted.  The  one  word 
embracing  the  mission  of  Christ,  is  Christianity,  and 
when  the  truth  is  as  invisible  as  sense  and  experience,  a 
Church  or  Church  government  is  just  as  dependent  upon 
the  essence  of  Christianity  as  an  individual.  It  is  the 
same  personal  liberty,  that  Christ  exemplified  that  made 
the  Church  possible.  All  varieties  of  governments  are 
embued  with  temporal  life  in  proportion  to  followers 
willing  to  defend  them.  The  principle  of  Christianity  is 
above  any  institution  that  man  can  establish.  It  is  self- 
protective  because  it  is  an  individual  revelation.  A  gov- 
ernment will  continue  to  exist  to  protect  this  principle. 
The  name  of  a  collective  body  of  people  cannot  change 
the  character  of  its  individual  construction.  Govern- 
ments have  always  failed  to  obtain  good  results  in  pro- 


286  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

portion  to  their  indifference  to  protect  personal  liberty  in 
accord  with  the  preaching  of  Christ. 

A  Church  government  is  no  exception,  whether  it  is 
over  a  large  or  small  congregation.  The  essential  fea- 
ture is  to  recognize  man,  individually,  in  touch  with 
God,  which  no  theology  or  science  has  ever  proved  to 
the  contrary. 

The  effort  to  maintain  specific  organizations  by  the 
presumption  of  an  immediate  direction  of  God  is  too  pre- 
posterous for  anyone  to  claim  who  is  in  possession  of  his 
reason.  To  treat  it  as  an  obsolete  dogma  merely  obscures 
the  resposibility  of  Church  government,  or  any  govern- 
ment assuming  the  authority  as  if  they  were  an  acknowl- 
edged theocracy.  History  proves  theocratic  governments 
to  have  been  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  oppression, 
while  a  positive  proof  is  afforded  every  individual  who 
can  sense  his  own  existence,  that  he  is  immediately  in 
touch  with  Spirit.  Social  obligations  are  equally  in- 
volved in  the  pretended  divine  authority  of  government, 
or  to  act  in  accord  with  such  pretensions.  Moral  obliga- 
tions are  as  directly  revealed  as  the  sense  of  fear,  and 
when  collective  bodies  prove  by  their  own  conduct,  that 
the  force  of  numbers  insures  an  immunity  from  moral 
duty,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  individual  will  be  influ- 
enced by  their  example. 

It  could  be  observed  that  Church  government  appears 
at  a  cross  purpose,  when  moral  duty  and  personal  con- 
venience are  concerned.  This,  added  to  the  dual  charac- 
ter of  written  words,  makes  it  laborious  to  search  out  a 
real  thought,  which  frequently  obscures  the  truth  itself. 
Assuming  a  government  to  be  exclusively  confined  to 
protection,  it  would  be  a  usurpation  to  employ  its  militant 
strength  to  enforce  instruction,  that  was  more  a  conve- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  2%J 

nience  to  maintain  a  class  division  of  society  than  to  pro- 
mote moral  integrity. 

The  ingrafting  of  polity  with  human  protection,  dis- 
guised by  moral  pretensions,  can  only  be  accounted  for  as 
a  necessary  pitfall  analagous  to  the  primitive  fall.  Pol- 
ity is  as  opposite  to  moral  duty  as  to  justify  an  authority 
of  government  in  assuming  an  instructive  attitude,  and 
by  the  distortion  of  words  prove  that  instruction  was  a 
feature  of  protection.  It  would  be  analogous  to  compel- 
ling a  child  to  fall,  because  it  was  the  natural  method 
necessary  to  the  revelation  of  intelligence.  Instruction 
governed  by  political  design  and  that  prompted  by  the 
natural  sense  of  love,  is  an  extreme  opposite,  as  current 
results  prove.  To  be  explicit :  If  the  protection  of  a  child 
demanded  the  destruction  of  its  natural  faculties,  its  suc- 
cess would  not  justify  the  means,  which  would  be  paral- 
lel to  a  parent  murdering  its  offspring  to  preserve  it  from 
a  possible  evil.  The  relation  of  instruction  to  protection 
is  a  very  important  feature  of  Church  government,  if 
polity  could  be  laid  aside  while  the  subject  was  being 
considered.  The  results  of  instruction  can  only  be  ob- 
served in  the  object;  for  a  subject  thoroughly  instructed 
has  its  intelligence  crowded  into  a  small  circle,  and  so 
thoroughly  sealed  up,  that  instruction  would  not  be  a 
success  if  the  subject  could  comprehend  anything  out- 
side of  its  small  circle  of  instruction. 

The  average  government  official  is  usually  tickled  with 
his  own  importance;  Church  government  being  no  ex- 
ception. It  can  also  be  charged  to  human  weakness,  but 
spiritual  principles  are  above  such  weakness,  and  freely 
admitted  by  preachers  who  are  more  devoted  to  moral 
obligations  than  political  convenience.  Hence  the  polity 
embraced  in  Church  government  is  equally  as  immoral 


288  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

as  it  would  be  in  the  individual.  It  is  even  more  so  with 
any  collective  body  that  appropriates  a  spiritual  principle 
for  a  personal  and  material  convenience. 

Political  supremacy  has  always  depended  upon  mystics, 
superstition,  and  military  enforcement;  for  that  reason, 
the  common  people  were  instructed  to  believe  that  gov- 
ernments were  directed  by  a  mysterious  power  which,  as 
a  general  principle  it  is  true,  but  as  an  abstract  it  is  false 
to  reason,  and  tacitly  admitted  by  the  average  teacher, 
but  polity  asserts  itself  to  be  a  supernatural  principle, 
while  in  reality  it  is  the  attraction  that  activity  depends 
upon,  for  the  spiritual  character  of  Nature  will  not  per- 
mit itself  to  be  superseded  by  a  mere  terminology  that  is 
the  limit  of  polity  to  control.  The  effort  to  limit  human 
thought  by  a  system  of  government  seeking  to  control  the 
commerce  of  ideas,  by  confining  the  definition  of  words 
to  statute  law  for  the  proclaimed  purpose  of  conserving 
society,  would  destroy  the  sacredness  of  intelligence. 

The  mere  fiat  of  a  government  to  maintain  a  theocratic 
authority  can  only  be  accomplished  by  an  etymology  of 
words,  mere  symbols  of  thought.  Nature  cannot  be  in- 
cluded or  compelled  to  surrender  its  spiritual  authority 
for  the  convenience  of  a  body  of  men  proclaiming  them- 
selves to  be  a  government.  Nature  is  certainly  a  super- 
government,  in  comparison  to  any  visible  form  that  tem- 
poral society  has  ever  been  able  to  develop.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  deny  or  affirm  a  super-power  over  Nature, 
for  experience  and  all  written  records  prove  conclusively 
that  no  political  government  has  ever  contended  success- 
fully against  the  command  of  Nature.  So  far  as  any 
moral  benefit  has  accrued  from  a  political  government, 
the  desecration  of  omnipotent  Spirit — ^by  calling  it  nature, 
has    never    superseded    the    forgery    with    any  success. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  289 

Neither  has  the  consecration  of  written  words  by  govern- 
ment fiat  ever  crystallized  them  sufficiently  to  make  it  a 
permanent  heresy  to  dispute  them. 

The  Church  of  God  is  above  any  symbol  by  which  it 
may  be  represented.  A  government  is  equally  as  subor- 
dinate as  the  individual ;  it  is  an  office  apart  from  spiritual 
authority.  The  effort  to  involve  a  civil  government  with 
a  spiritual  government  established  a  principle  of  Church 
and  State.  It  was  a  pagan  invention  which  was  tenta- 
tively experimented  with  by  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
more  or  less  copied  by  political  institutions  ever  since. 
It  is  to  the  credit  of  prominent  churchmen  who  have 
maintained  the  invisible,  or  spiritual  character  of  the 
Church,  and  always  defended  it  with  success  against  any 
political  effort  to  incorporate  it,  permanently,  with  state 
authority :  It  is  the  one  power  that  polity  has  never  been 
able  to  dethrone.  It  can  distort  words,  crucify,  crush, 
decree,  frighten,  command,  and  ostracize  anyone  who 
dares  to  dispute  a  decree  of  an  established  custom,  but 
the  personal  liberty  involved  in  Christianity  is  above  tem- 
poral government  or  transitory  laws. 

A  spiritual  Church  is  governed  by  spiritual  methods 
as  invisible  as  Spirit  itself.  Such  a  Church  has  no  need 
for  a  militant  or  political  government,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  a  protection  against  persecution.  The  con- 
tention between  a  political  government  and  a  Spiritual 
government  caused  all  the  literal  controversy  that  his- 
tory is  burdened  with.  The  effort  of  the  Church  (Chris- 
tianity) to  assume  a  political  government  transferred  it 
into  a  "Church  militant,"  when  dogmatics  tried  to  estab- 
lish a  visible  Church.  It  was  the  darkest  period  of 
Church  history,  when,  to  embrace  politics,  it  was  related 
more  to  Church  government  than  to  the  invisible  Church. 


290  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

There  was  nothing  to  protect  other  than  the  personal 
adherents  of  Christianity,  for  Christianity  as  an  invisible 
Church  would  be  necessarily  spiritual  and  perfectly  able 
to  protect  itself,  which  the  circumstances  appeared  to 
prove.  It  could  scarcely  be  overlooked  that  a  govern- 
ment demanded  a  policy  which  introduced  dogmatics,  and 
doctrines  which  entailed  a  penalty  for  the  disobedience  of 
proscribed  forms,  entirely  foreign  to  the  primitive 
Church.  An  honest  man  could  not  be  such  and  contend 
for  a  Church  government  which  was  added  by  the  polity 
of  man,  to  correct  an  apparent  error  of  Christ  that  re- 
quired a  posterior  revelation. 

There  was  no  provision  for  a  militant  protection  of  the 
Gospels,  and  the  fact  that  Christianity  embraced  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  rather  than,  as  is  frequently  claimed,  that 
the  Empire  embraced  Christianity,  which,  if  it  were  a 
fact,  the  survival  of  Christianity  proves  that  the  state  pro- 
tection was  not  needed.  A  careful  study  of  dogmatic  con- 
troversy would  suggest  that  polity  and  learning  was  as 
unnecessary  to  Christianity  as  the  Roman  Empire  was. 
A  man  embued  with  a  conviction  that  he  was  apotheo- 
sized from  a  surfeit  of  learning,  could  establish  any  kind 
of  dogmatic  doctrines,  and  interpret  the  Scriptures  with 
a  display  of  learning  sufficient  to  gain  a  multitude  of  fol- 
lowers, but  it  would  not  be  Christianity,  because  he  had 
a  following.  If  mere  phraseology  can  embellish  invisible 
Spirit  and  give  it  material  attributes,  it  could  overthrow 
Christianity  and  reinstate  paganism. 

It  is  no  reflection  upon  learning  or  scholarship  to  deny 
to  it  the  power  of  command  over  invisible  Spirit,  for 
morality  and  Christianity  are  no  more  involved  with 
learning  than  Church  government  is  with  civil  govern- 
ment.    If  it  were  kindly  considered  separate  from  State 


THE  ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  29I 

authority,  Christianity  would  continue  to  civilize  society 
and  overcome  the  obstruction  of  polity,  which  it  has  suc- 
cessfully done,  since  it  was  first  conceived. 

The  factious  disputes  of  the  learned  are  a  supposition 
that  Christianity  depends  upon  literal  learning.  It  would 
appear,  however,  that  the  divorce  of  State  and  religion 
inaugurated  by  American  independence,  would  reflect  a 
rebuke  to  theology  and  science  both.  That  is,  it  reflects 
upon  intelligence  itself,  to  contend  against  the  very  es- 
sence of  Christianity  and  also  the  declared  purpose  of  the 
American  revolution.  It  is  more  discredit  to  the  liter- 
ally learned  that  political  greed  can  substitute  a  state 
authority  over  the  common  people  in  like  manner  as  state 
religion  did  in  older  nations.  When  the  same  political 
end  is  being  sought  by  methods  of  education  that  state 
religion  had  in  view,  it  is  neither  a  Christian  or  moral 
purpose,  however  much  it  may  be  proclaimed.  That 
Christianity  has  been  protected  by  the  common  people,  is 
a  too  prominent  feature  of  its  history  to  be  successfully 
disputed.  Christianity  has  proved  itself  to  be  a  natural 
religion  by  its  own  development,  against  the  combined 
effort  of  pagan  learning  to  disprove  it.  If  that  is  ad- 
mitted, which  the  American  revolution  demonstrated 
also,  how  can  an  honest  man  believe  that  state  education 
will  accomplish  what  a  state  religion  failed  to  do;  when 
Christians  had  nothing  but  the  sky,  earth,  and  caves  to 
hide  in,  to  claim  it  to  be  a  religion  of  learning,  would  be 
as  false  as  to  dispute  the  omnipotence  of  God. 

That  education  and  religion  are  natural  is  the  matter 
in  hand,  and  if  it  can  be  objected  to,  it  has  certainly  made 
a  better  showing  than  political  religion,  allowing  even 
there  is  a  purpose  for  good,  in  evil  itself.  The  present 
educational  system  proclaims    itself  to  be    an  autocracy 


292  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

more  powerful  than  any  theocracy  ever  having  had  a 
previous  existence.  Its  lively  extravagance  bids  fair  to 
destroy  itself  in  less  time  than  previous  systems  of  gov- 
ernments, which  were  more  deliberate  in  their  self  de- 
struction. Christ's  claim  to  a  vicarious  inspiration  need 
not  be  disputed  or  affirmed,  to  comprehend  the  invisible 
character  of  Spirit,  which  is  of  more  importance  to  the 
individual  than  all  the  dogmatics,  and  counter  apolo- 
getics that  literature  contains. 

The  relation  of  signs  which  are  visible,  to  principles 
that  are  invisible  has  always  been  a  state  policy  to  with- 
hold from  the  public.  To  dilate  upon  literal  authority 
is  the  ground  principle  of  State  supervision  over  educa- 
tion. It  is  to  the  purpose,  to  observe  that  morality  is 
treated  secondary  to  the  importance  of  a  secular  educa- 
tion, and  when  the  defect  in  etymology  is  also  consid- 
ered, it  involves  the  relation  of  Nature  to  Art,  analogous 
to  Christianity  and  paganism,  God's  government,  or 
man's  government.  It  presents  a  proposition  that  every 
human  being  is  concerned  with;  to  determine  whether  a 
visible  policy  is  as  honest,  as  an  invisible  principle  in- 
volved in  life  itself  revealed  directly  to  every  human 
being. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  293 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


MORAL   RECTITUDE. 


IN  the  absence  of  moral  senses  it  could  not  be  substi- 
■^  tuted  by  the  art  of  man,  in  Hke  manner  to  that  of  a 
wooden  leg  or  a  glass  eye.  It  should  be  admitted  with- 
out controversy  that  no  moral  code  of  literal  signs  could 
touch  the  organ  of  intellect  and  supply  what  would  other- 
wise be  a  natural  deficiency.  If  a  person's  thinking  fac- 
ulties could  be  stopped  at  a  ix)int  of  moral  rectitude,  the 
same  as  the  hands  of  a  watch  could  be  stopped  with  the 
supposition  that  it  stopped  time  also,  it  would  suggest 
emulation  rather  than  a  fault. 

It  is  a  point  to  be  grateful  for  that  the  sentient  faculty 
is  an  individual  circumstance  that  is  personal  property, 
even  if  rulers,  codes  of  law,  and  legislatures  sit  firmly 
upon  established  prerogatives,  that  an  empirical  subject 
is  dependent  upon  some  visible  object  of  authority  for 
the  common  good.  If  it  is  more  important  to  preserve 
the  prerogatives  of  the  past,  which  is  not  recorded  as  re- 
markable for  moral  rectitude,  than  to  give  attention  to 
the  immorality  of  the  present,  the  present  educational  sys- 
tem is  well  adapted  to  the  conservation  of  the  past. 

To  shift  the  moral  obligations  upon  an  invisible  gov- 
ernment and  continue  to  use  the  implements  of  learning 
to  illuminate  material  desires,  assumes  the  immunity  of 
the  learned.  To  use  a  natural  privilege  of  education  to 
establish  a  code  of  morality,  that  consigns  the  primitive 


294  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

source  to  a  condition  of  immorality  to  the  extent  that 
written  words  can  accomplish  it,  is  the  very  essence  of 
pagan  philosophy.  It  is  not  a  reasonable  proposition 
that  pagan  literature  so  laboriously  constructed  could  be 
counteracted  in  a  day.  Besides  it  could  be  recognized 
now  as  a  necessity  to  the  march  of  human  progress ;  and 
while  the  present  could  emulate  the  virtues  of  the  pagan, 
it  would  appear  unnecessary  to  embrace  their  vices  also. 

Moral  codes  have  been  convenient  instruments  to 
maintain  a  supremacy  of  the  learned  over  the  unlearned. 
It  is  this  feature  of  morality  that  effects  educational  sys- 
tems. The  temporal  character  of  all  literal  efforts 
should  be  carefully  studied  before  the  sacred  character 
of  personal  liberty  was  surrendered  at  the  demand  of 
another,  by  reason  of  authority  based  upon  literal  form 
contending  with  spiritual  reality. 

It  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted  by  the  average  writ- 
ers upon  the  subject  of  moral  ethics,  that  it  is  confined  to 
literal  mediation,  for  to  admit  that  an  illiterate  person,  or, 
to  be  more  explicit,  a  strictly  natural  man,  had  any  moral 
conception,  it  would  be  a  sacrilege  under  the  present 
lines  of  education.  What  appears  paradoxical  between 
learning  and  morality  is  hidden  by  the  policy  of  the  state, 
in  supervising  secular  education  with  the  same  vigor  as 
religious  education  was  pursued  in  the  dark  ages.  Re- 
ligion accepted  as  a  doctrine,  requiring  literal  mediation 
to  attain  is  practically  seeking  by  secular  education  to 
cover  moral  requirements. 

That  is,  modern  learning  is  accepted  as  morality  by 
itself,  which  is  the  better  able  to  comprehend  the  intrica- 
cies of  religion.  The  prospects  of  material  reward  and 
a  life  of  luxurious  leisure  is  a  temptation  so  brilliant  that 
moral  rectitude  in  its  simplicity  is  viewed  with  contempt. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  295 

When  the  multitude  is  preserved  in  defiance  of  the 
learned,  in  cultivating  a  combination  of  greed  and  super- 
ficial religion,  it  should  at  least  suggest  to  the  thinking 
person  that  natural  morality  was  the  most  prominent  fac- 
tor in  the  march  of  progress.  It  presents  a  strange  ano- 
maly to  follow  the  same  course  of  learning  that  the 
pagans  pursued  to  oppose  Christianity,  with  a  declared 
purpose  now  to  promote  it.  The  results  prove  from  a 
moral  standpoint,  that  there  is  no  difference  in  teaching 
to  the  food  producers,  that  it  was  a  divine  institution  for 
the  lesser  learned  to  serve  their  superiors.  It  did  not 
prove  so  with  the  institution  of  chattel  slavery.  The 
principle  of  moral  rectitude  does  not  change,  whether 
modern  learning  recognizes  the  fact  or  not. 

The  reason  literal  education  presents  such  a  complex 
difficulty,  is  because  it  is  designed  to  be  so  by  political 
astuteness.  An  exclusive  esoteric  method  of  language 
establishes  a  peerage  of  learning  that  can  be  just  as  auto- 
cratic as  any  aristocracy  dependent  upon  military  pro- 
tection, but  the  question  of  the  day  is  whether  moral  rec- 
titude is  a  form  or  a  fact.  It  would  be  a  misfortune  to 
any  institution  or  society,  if  experience  could  be  strictly 
controlled  by  any  formal  system  of  education.  Because 
it  does  not  appear  readily  in  literal  parlance  that  spiritual 
knowledge  is  a  fact,  not  only  invisible  but  uncontrollable 
by  man,  who  is  limited  to  form,  for  the  purpose  of  corre- 
spondence or  a  comparison  of  experience,  one  with  an- 
other. 

The  literal  forms  of  morality  in  comparison  to  the 
spiritual  is  the  subject  in  hand.  A  straight  course  in 
every  act  known  to  the  actor  would  constitute  moral  rec- 
titude, technically  termed  honesty.  There  is  no  escape 
from  a  dishonest  purpose  when  a  representative  form  is 


296  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

SO  constructed  as  to  give  a  false  impression  to  the  un- 
learned, while  its  true  character  is  only  known  to  the 
learned.  The  learned  who  know  they  do  wrong  are  more 
responsible  for  their  conduct  than  the  same  act  by  a  per- 
son who  had  no  knowledge  of  its  being  wrong.  If  the 
common  people  are  to  continue  forever  to  serve  the  su- 
premacy of  learning,  it  will  not  detract  from  moral  obli- 
gations. It  is  so  evident  therefore  from  the  circum- 
stances of  history,  and  the  persistency  of  the  learned  in 
treating  morality  as  a  form,  leaving  no  alternative  but  to 
admit  that  moral  rectitude  as  a  divine  principle  is  better 
preserved  in  the  illiterate  than  the  literate.  It  is  doubtful 
if  any  form  of  illustration  were  better  written  to  illus- 
rate  the  immorality  of  the  learned  than  the  primitive  fall. 
It  is  quite  pertinent  to  the  principle  of  education  when 
viewed  as  a  form  of  learning  to  observe  the  difficulty  in 
determining  what  to  teach  another,  when  it  is  strictly  de- 
nied to  a  person  what  he  may  be  forced  to  learn  himself. 
It  is  certainly  immoral  to  institute  a  form  of  learning 
so  difficult  to  acquire,  for  the  purpose  of  political  su- 
premacy. There  being  no  limit  to  learning  mere  forms, 
it  would  forever  consign  the  lesser  learned  to  a  condition 
of  servitude,  except  for  natural  order  having  no  practical 
difference  to  ancient  slavery,  except  in  name.  To  con- 
sider the  situation  as  a  divine  beneficence  p>ermitting  the 
supremacy  of  the  learned  to  institute  dishonest  forms  of 
learning  for  the  apparent  purpose  of  protecting  a  suprem- 
acy over  the  weak,  who  also  appear  to  be  compelled  to 
submit  because  they  have  not  sufficient  learning  to  offer 
any  opposition.  If  the  purpose  is  to  "lift  up"  a  "fallen" 
humanity  it  could  not  possibly  apply  to  a  height  that 
would  disturb  the  point  at  which  supremacy  becomes  a 
law  to  itself.    If  it  implied  a  deification  of  human  perfec- 


THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION.  297 

tion  by  reason  of  literal  learning,  it  would  never  justify 
a  dishonest  form  necessary  to  reach  such  perfection.  It 
is  not  so  readily  understood  by  the  illiterate  that  words 
are  only  relative  forms,  but  if  there  were  no  political  rea- 
son to  hold  to  the  pagan  deification  of  words,  the  mere 
learning  of  words  would  be  a  simple  matter. 

The  profession  of  learning  forms  a  peerage  of  greater 
magnitude  than  any  political  or  social  peerage  that  was 
ever  instituted.  It  could  be  allovsfed  that  since  the  dark 
ages  the  distribution  of  learning  has  become  more  gen- 
eral. At  every  advance,  however,  it  was  only  gained  by 
wars  and  acrimonious  writings  that  the  world  had  never 
witnessed  before.  The  learned  peerage  were  only  con- 
tending for  the  patronage  of  the  common  people,  for  the 
"new  learnings"  that  sprung  up  at  the  instigation  of  Lu- 
ther did  not  exclude  any  of  the  esoteric  forms  derived 
from  the  pagans.  Immorality  could  only  be  corrected  by 
literal  form.  Whatever  school  of  learning  sprung  up,  it 
was  more  to  gain  a  supremacy  of  political  control  than 
to  encourage  a  common  education.  Any  person  who 
dared  to  assert  the  equality  of  man  in  the  sight  of  God, 
was  either  excommunicated  or  deliberately  executed.  All 
this  brutal  conduct  was  to  defend  the  supremacy  of  learn- 
ing. It  was  practically  held  to  be  impossible  for  a  person 
to  possess  a  private  judgment  and  every  new  school  of 
learning  could  readily  prove  any  end  desired,  for  pagan 
learning  was  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  comprehend 
even  revealed  religion. 

If  a  sincere  purpose  exists  to  promote  the  common 
privilege  of  education,  which  is  often  declared,  it  would 
not  include  the  necessity  of  supporting  an  extravagant 
form,  for  fear  the  political  supremacy  will  be  disturbed. 
It  is  this  indifference  to  moral  rectitude  by  holding  to  a 


298  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

dishonest  form,  that  makes  the  learned  as  a  body  respon- 
sible for  social  disorder.  No  person  can  perform  his 
moral  duty  to  society  and  deny  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment either  to  himself  or  directed  to  another.  Whatever 
effect  it  has  upon  written  codes  of  authority  it  is  no  less 
a  fact.  It  cannot  be  denied  without  affirming  it  in  the 
very  act  of  denial.  It  is  a  principle  that  transcends  the 
affected  supremacy  of  learning.  Besides,  science  and 
theology  can  contend  against  each  other  like  two  locomo- 
tives of  equal  strength,  trying  to  move  each  other.  It 
simply  disturbs  mediators,  deputies,  and  politicians,  as  a 
natural  necessity  to  activity,  without  which  knowledge 
would  be  as  impossible  as  experience.  Neither  theory  or 
science  can  prove  an  experience  to  be  false.  If  reason 
prevails,  it  must  be  pure  reason,  for  no  nation,  institu- 
tion, or  school  of  philosophy  has  even  prevailed  over 
moral  rectitude,  or  pure  reason. 

It  appears  more  comfortable  to  follow;  it  suggests  a 
finished  product  free  from  care  and  responsibility,  but 
even  such  luxury  cannot  shake  off  the  principle  of  per- 
sonal judgment.  A  man  can  rave  and  command  after 
the  sailors  have  left  the  ship,  when  he  feels  fire  behind 
and  sees  nothing  but  water  in  front.  If  he  refuses  to  ex- 
ercise his  previous  judgment  by  defying  both  elements, 
it  will  not  prove  the  absence  of  an  empirical  judgment. 
This  delicate  situation  can  be  referred  to  theology  and 
science  to  settle,  but  if  there  are  no  followers  to  support 
the  argument,  it  will  consume  itself  like  a  fire  in  the  ab- 
sence of  fuel.    If  facts  are  cold,  fire  is  equally  hot. 

The  supremacy  of  learning  should  not  be  mistaken  for 
the  supremacy  of  knowledge,  for  the  former  is  but  the 
shadow  of  the  latter.  Knowledge  is  the  one  invisible 
power  that  will  not  admit  of  a  plurality  of  words  to  sig- 


THE   ECONO]VtY   OF   EDUCATION.'  299 

nify  it.  Learning,  to  be  such,  cannot  rise  above  formula ; 
it  has  a  worthy  office  as  a  deputy  in  the  distribution  of 
knowledge,  which  is  exclusively  a  divine  privilege  to  re- 
veal to  each  and  every  person.  The  word  influence  sig- 
nifies education  in  its  broad  sense ;  to  be  dishonestly  em- 
ployed, it  would  be  immoral  on  the  ground  that  whatever 
act  is  performed,  knowing  it  to  be  false,  for  the  purpose 
of  misleading  another,  would  be  a  betrayal  of  confidence 
— immorality  of  the  highest  type.  When  personal  judg- 
ment becomes  so  crippled  as  to  require  an  absolution  for 
whatever  evil  might  be  committed,  the  belief,  holdings,  or 
profession  would  be  of  such  a  settled  character  that  ab- 
solution would  not  convince  a  person  that  he  was  as 
free  from  sin  as  before  he  was  born.  Any  institution  of 
learning  may  teach  moral  forms  and  precepts,  but  if  it 
insists  upon  teaching  that  visible  forms  have  greater  po- 
tency for  good  than  the  invisible  communion  of  Spirit 
empirically  conceived,  the  immoral  practice  of  such  an 
institution  will  be  followed  in  disregard  of  its  moral  pre- 
cepts. 

Christianity  was  established  upon  moral  rectitude  and 
the  authority  of  One  invisible  power,  as  against  the  pow- 
erful influence  of  pagan  learning,  the  supremacy  of 
which  was  heresy  to  question.  Who  but  the  "common 
herd"  could  be  depended  upon  to  sustain  the  simple 
preaching  of  Christ,  directed  mainly  against  the  worship 
of  forms  and  visible  things,  particularly  a  plural  of  gods, 
representing  a  learned  ability  to  penetrate  the  realm  of 
Spirit  and  divine  its  purpose? 

The  reflection  upon  the  present  effort  of  the  learned  to 
maintain  a  supremacy  over  invisible  p>ower,  is  exactly 
parallel  to  the  pagans,  except  the  substituting  of  words 
in  place  of  gods.    The  teaching  of  false  words  to  youth 


300  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

is  equally  as  immoral  as  the  teaching  of  false  gods.  In- 
stitutions would  defend  their  position  in  proportion  to 
their  ability  to  obtain  followers.  It  is  not  so  much  a  ques- 
tion of  education,  as  that  of  honesty,  for  some  purpose 
must  exist  other  than  honesty,  in  continuing  to  maintain 
a  series  of  words  to  signify  an  invisible  power,  when  the 
word  ''invisible"  would  prohibit  the  use  of  words  to  di- 
vide a  power  invisible,  for  the  apparent  purpose  of  giving 
it  a  variety  of  attributes  at  the  convenience  of  the  learned. 
The  situation  can  only  be  examined  by  personal  judg- 
ment, for  an  economy  of  education  would  not  be  consid- 
ered by  the  officials  of  an  institution  engaged  in  promot- 
ing a  learned  supremacy.  The  end  being  recognized  by 
the  universal  body  of  the  learned,  the  means,  whether 
moral  or  not,  would  only  be  considered  by  the  individual 
with  moral  conviction  more  potent  than  his  personal  in- 
terests. 

None  but  a  peer  can  approach  a  person  of  exalted  learn- 
ing; it  requires  courage  for  a  man,  his  equal  in  learning, 
to  even  suggest  a  possibility  that  man  is  equal  in  the 
sight  of  God.  There  is  only  one  command  of  the  learned, 
considered  as  a  general  esoteric  agreement,  that  is :  sub- 
mission and  silence.  There  are,  however,  courageous  ex- 
ceptions to  this  state  of  things,  but  so  vastly  in  the  minor- 
ity that  the  influence  is  a  mere  irritation.  The  disregard 
for  moral  recitude  and  the  ease  by  which  the  Scriptures 
can  be  interpreted  to  justify  a  desired  end,  gives  to  secu- 
lar education  what  bids  fair  to  dispense  with  religious 
education,  so  far  as  Protestant  organizations  are  con- 
cerned. Not  so,  however,  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  for 
whether  it  is  polity  or  not,  no  one  can  deny  that  to  the 
extent  of  their  means,  they  are  more  interested  in  teach- 
ing morality  to  the  young  than  the  secular  school.    It  is 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION.  3OI 

with  no  reflections  upon  Protestants,  for  the  public 
schools  are  controlled  by  political  interests.  It  is  a  mere 
supposition  that  the  teaching  of  patriotism  and  great  ex- 
pectations under  the  supervision  of  political  greed  will 
conduct  to  moral  rectitude.  Prophecies  will  not  effect 
the  situation,  as  much  as  the  personal  judgment  of  the 
teacher,  for  politics  controlled  by  commercial  greed  will 
be  as  deaf  as  the  exalted  learned. 

It  is  a  bold  experiment,  in  view  of  the  mistakes  of  the 
past,  for  religious  education  was  conducted  by  the  state 
to  protect  the  supremacy  of  the  learned,  which  led  to  de- 
struction, and  with  the  same  end  in  view  what  can  be  ex- 
pected from  an  irreligious  education  enforced  by  the 
state  on  the  exact  lines  of  the  pagans  ?  If  moral  rectitude 
continues  to  preserve  the  simplicity  of  Christianity,  it  will 
be  due  to  natural  virtue  rather  than  cultivated  extrava- 
gance. 


302  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


IDEAL   SYSTEMS. 


'T^HE  continual  conflict  between  a  spiritual  system  and  a 
^  literal  system  relating  to  education,  should  attract  at- 
tention, for  no  better  evidence  could  be  had  than  the  mis- 
takes of  the  past.  Speculative  systems  of  whatever  char- 
acter have  always  failed  to  reach  beyond  expectation. 
It  should  suggest  that  ideal  intelligence  was  illusive  in 
comparison  to  natural  facts.  The  ideal  of  the  present  is 
identical  with  the  mythology  of  the  past,  for  the  same 
purpose  of  taking  an  advantage  of  credulity.  The  power 
to  maintain  tyrannical  systems  is  in  turn  overpowered  by 
natural  adjustment,  when  no  evidence  of  partiality  ap- 
pears. 

It  is  no  less  the  privilege  of  an  individual  than  a  col- 
lective system  to  be  a  "free  lance"  and  study  the  confu- 
sion of  men  who  have  no  other  claim  to  infinite  import- 
ance than  what  is  fundamentally  common  to  entire  hu- 
manity. Philosophers  always  prove  this  feature  by  the 
example  of  their  own  personality.  A  "free  lance"  can 
study  the  situation  with  perfect  safety,  for  people  caught 
in  the  meshes  of  their  own  weaving  can  punish  each  other 
without  destroying  the  future  prospects  of  a  new  comer 
upon  the  scene  of  strife.  Not  but  what  philosophers 
strive  to  be  honest  in  their  precepts,  but  they  are  so  en- 
gaged in  some  special  system,  as  to  lose  sight  of  the  fun- 
damental truth  common  to  all.    Space  and  time  and  dif- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  3O3 

ferences  are  of  prime  importance  to  an  active  life,  for  a 
passive  life  is  void  of  the  distinction  between  animal  and 
progressive  intelligence.  Any  person  having  discovered 
this  simple  difference  is  in  touch  with  the  infinite  princi- 
ple of  life,  for  no  external  power  could  have  the  least 
influence  upon  an  individual,  except  for  that  touch.  The 
effort  of  philosophers  to  build  a  system  that  will  bridge 
the  space  between  the  finite  and  infinite  has  been  the 
Waterloo  of  all  of  them.  A  tinge  of  polity  can  be  de- 
tected in  all  speculative  theories  that  makes  it  necessary 
for  the  very  defence  of  existence  to  organize  a  contrary 
system.  It  would  be  wearisome  to  dispute  the  dialectical 
sophistry  of  the  past.  Records  of  it  are  more  instructive 
in  revealing  the  cruel  systems  that  men  have  instituted 
for  the  purpose  of  oppression  and  personal  profit,  rather 
than  any  sincere  purpose  of  enlightenment. 

All  literature  is  poisoned  with  the  metaphysical  inven- 
tions of  Aristotle  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  introduced 
a  literal  method  of  transcending  experience  and  con- 
sciousness, for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  will  power 
of  the  multitude  in  the  interest  of  the  self-elect  few. 

The  object  of  a  collective  system  is  either  to  command 
obedience  or  exercise  an  attractive  influence.  It  is  idle 
to  command  in  the  absence  of  a  force  of  some  character 
to  compel  obedience.  It  makes  literal  suggestions  even, 
very  misleading.  Between  the  finite  and  infinite  is  the 
limit  of  human  wisdom.  To  assert  that  a  system  is  by 
authority  is  too  vague  to  mean  anything  more  than  a 
mere  paraphrase.  If  the  child  is  commanded  to  obey  two 
systems  that  are  diametrically  opposed,  the  child  is  di- 
rectly imposed  upon,  for,  if  it  is  compelled  by  virtue  of 
authority  to  choose  which  command  to  obey,  it  recog- 


304  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

nizes  the  natural  good  sense  of  the  child  as  superior  to 
the  systems  seeking  its  control. 

Abstract  objection  to  a  subjective  fact  derived  from  a 
concrete  truth  is  beyond  the  wisdom  of  man  to  assert 
without  betraying  a  motive  of  polity;  and  only  for  the 
fact  that  love  is  a  sense  instead  of  a  law  to  be  obeyed  the 
child  would  be  sacrificed  to  the  power  of  adult  greed. 
With  due  respect  for  the  moral  precepts  of  Hopkin's 
"Law  of  Love  and  Love  as  Law,"  it  could  be  observed 
that  the  dual  character  of  the  word  "law"  neutralizes  his 
work  by  the  very  title  he  gives  it.  Law  has  nothing  to 
do  with  concrete  sense,  except  a  person  chooses  to  obey 
the  fiat  of  man  in  opposition  to  the  direct  revelation  of 
God.  There  is  no  occasion  to  define  literal  words,  to  ob- 
ject to  the  statement  that  the  child  is  a  "def>endent  crea- 
ture." It  is  not  true,  because  the  child  itself  emphatically 
denies  it.  A  system  without  polity  would  be  a  body  with- 
out organs  or  faculties  of  any  kind.  Now  systems  in 
constant  dispute  over  moral  ethics  have  a  common  inter- 
est in  maintaining  the  sophistry  that  the  child's  depend- 
ence upon  literal  law  or  literal  authority.  Moral  precepts 
are  always  commendable  when  accompanied  by  moral 
practice,  for  a  very  weak  child  can  discern  example  long 
before  it  can  understand  the  paradox  of  etymology. 

The  point  of  difference  for  a  sincere  thinker  of  moral 
subjects  is  between  natural  philosophy  and  speculative 
philosophy — the  truth  and  theory.  Systems  constructed 
by  man  have  a  purpose  as  a  necessary  negative  to  make 
a  positive  apparent  to  human  conception.  They  are  all 
transitory,  however,  and  that  fact  should  not  escape  the 
observation  of  a  tentative  reformer  who  is  imbued  with 
a  trained  belief  that  the  babe  is  born  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  rival  systems  contending  for  its  control. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  305 

The  poison  that  pagan  scholars  injected  into  Hterature 
is  the  governing  principle  of  educational  systems  at  pres- 
ent, and  when  scholars  cannot  agree  upon  what  the  truth 
really  is,  it  is  apparent  that  systems  are  more  dependent 
upon  the  babe  than  the  reverse ;  for  anyone  can  learn  the 
truth  by  studying  the  babe.  Education  as  a  cardinal 
principle  is  not  responsible  for  education  as  a  system ;  the 
difference  again  is  between  the  finite  and  infinite — the 
truth  in  contrary  distinction  to  theory. 

The  diplomatic  ability  of  Aristotle  in  giving  meanings 
to  words  that  gave  the  appearance  of  theory  transcending 
the  truth  could  readily  be  seen.  His  sincerity  can  be  left 
to  his  own  conscience,  for  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in 
pampering  to  the  favor  of  tyranny,  but  he  taught  the 
method  of  playing  with  words,  which  has  become  the 
principal  method  of  maintaining  systems  of  oppression. 
A  person  possessing  a  greater  degree  of  experience  than 
the  child  must,  by  reason  of  his  experience,  understand 
what  is  meant  by  concrete  truth. 

Experience  requires  no  literal  interpretation.  It  is 
just  as  absurd  to  teach  any  one  how  to  act  natural 
as  to  pretend  to  influence  a  child  before  it  is  born. 
When  a  person  is  thoroughly  trained  to  abstract  con- 
victions, he  is  more  persistently  ignorant  of  concrete 
truth  than  the  babe,  when  consciousness  is  first  re- 
vealed to  it.  Experience  again  is  not  a  theory,  but 
the  truth,  which  no  person  can  deny  without  affirm- 
ing it  to  be  the  truth  from  the  necessary  ability  to 
deny  it.  Systems,  therefore,  are  dependent  upon  ab- 
stracts, which  makes  it  logically  impossible  to  jus- 
tify a  compulsory  authority  over  a  child.  A  confu- 
sion of  understanding  immediately  arises,  because  the 
literal    supremacy    of    pagan    prerogatives    are    more 


306  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

carefully  adhered  to  than  the  sense-truth  that  is  re- 
vealed directly  to  every  being  or  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  teach  either  evil  or  good.  That  Socrates  was 
the  first  martyr  to  suffer  for  espousing  the  principle 
of  empiricism,  because  it  recognizes  the  very  funda- 
mental principle  of  all  collective  systems;  to  wit, 
that  the  fundamental  equality  of  man  was  beyond  the 
power  of  man  to  direct.  Because  all  the  defenders 
of  empiricism  have  been  crucified  in  various  ways  ap- 
pears to  be  a  victory  for  systems  over  the  continual 
petition  of  the  babe,  perfectly  parallel  with  the  dec- 
laration of  Socrates;  and  the  present  system  of  edu- 
cation seeks  to  poison  the  child  with  systematic  au- 
thority, in  opposition  to  divine  revelation.  The  per- 
sistent effort  of  writers  to  defend  the  polity  of  man 
in  his  temporal  power  to  construct  systems  so  strong 
that  the  very  power  of  God  is  defied;  it  defeats  itself 
by  denying  the  very  empirical  experience  that  even 
constructive  power  depends  upon. 

The  fact  that  wickedness,  evil,  and  sin  are  pointed  to 
with  a  countenance  of  horror  by  those  who  could  not 
teach  it  thoroughly  except  having  a  personal  familiar- 
ity with  their  subject,  is  the  strongest  appeal  for  the 
recognition  of  the  empirical  right  of  the  babe,  and 
human  weakness.  Ideal  systems  of  education  are  ad- 
vanced by  multitudes  of  writers,  who  like  philoso- 
phers exhaust  the  most  of  their  ability  in  seeking  to 
promote  material  victory  rather  than  admit  the  truth 
that  is  wholly  confined  to  natural  education  and  the 
only  perfect  Teacher.  The  little  truth  they  admit 
is  the  flexible  character  of  words ;  and  a  careful  study 
of  reasons  and  objects  for  some  specific  system  ad- 
vanced, it  could  be  observed  that  it  disputes  itself  by 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  307 

seeking  to  prove  that  sense-truth  is  really  depend- 
ent upon  what  all  theoretic  writers  are  pleased  to 
term  "literal  truth." 

The  effort  to  hide  a  natural  truth  which  is  self-as- 
serting, is  the  point  where  all  advocates  by  special 
educational  systems  betray  their  own  vicarious  atti- 
tude, when  the  motive  becomes  more  prominent  as 
the  little  truth  employed  leavens  the  whole  mass. 
If  a  theoretic  argument  will  not  bear  its  own  weight 
without  the  endorsement  of  popularity  to  float  it,  it 
needs  no  explanation  to  show  why  it  sinks.  The 
Bible  explains  the  reason  why  theories  are  not  true, 
and  to  teach  children  experimentally  to  determine 
whether  a  "literal  truth"  is  the  equal  of  a  spiritual 
truth  is  murder  in  purpose,  even  if  it  is  legally  per- 
mitted. Such  nomenclature  as  "teaching  the  senses 
how  to  feel  and  how  to  think,"  and  the  importance 
of  "teaching  the  will";  such  declarations  are  too 
vague  to  present  a  nucleus  for  dispute.  The  most 
ordinary  thinker  with  respect  for  sense-truth  and  his 
natural  faculties  unimpaired  could  readily  see  that 
such  terms  dispute  themselves. 

The  effort  to  teach  children  that  they  are  serfs  or 
wards  of  their  predecessors  is  for  the  same  purpose 
that  heathen  sophists  taught  that  weakness  belonged 
to  the  strong  who  were  the  only  portion  of  humanity 
entitled  to  live  in  idle  luxury.  Words  have  been 
continually  changed  in  definition  to  disguise  the  same 
cruel  purpose  toward  defenceless  children.  The 
truth  will  not  be  conquered  by  theories  and  any  per- 
son who  knows  he  has  not  courage  enough  to  de- 
nounce this  immoral  practice  of  teaching  children  an 
obligation  to  their  predecessors,  is  the  real  respon- 
sible party. 


308  THE   ECOiVOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

If  children  had  a  voice  before  they  were  born  they 
would  be  justified  in  refusing  to  be  born,  but  natural 
intelligence  has  never  been  conquered  for  any  great 
length  of  time.  It  gathers  courage  of  resistance 
against  the  vicarious  assumption  of  man,  and  what 
cannot  be  taught  is  natural  intelligence  or  a  voluntary 
willingness  to  be  enslaved.  If  duty  is  a  sentiment 
that  can  be  made  to  order,  is  it  not  a  logical  inconsist- 
ency to  protect  a  system  of  education  against  the  gen- 
eral principle  for  fear  children  will  learn  the  truth 
and  discover  that  they  lead  civilization  in  defiance  of 
their  predecessors,  who  as  a  concrete  body  are  ever 
seeking  to  conserve  the  past.  The  reason  is  very  sim- 
ple and  could  be  readily  taught  in  a  primary  school 
— that  every  human  being  fell  into  the  embrace  of 
consciousness  for  the  reason  that  a  contact  with  some 
object  was  a  necessity  to  reveal  the  spiritual  power 
of  sense,  which  would  otherwise  remain  dormant  in 
a  protoplasm  state  until  the  contact  occurred. 

Two  hundred  years  ago  it  would  have  been  con- 
sidered high  treason  to  have  declared  that  children 
were  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  be  frightened  to 
death.  The  necessity,  however,  of  the  child  coming 
in  contact  with  an  object  and  that  object  could  be 
considered  to  be  its  predecessors,  the  object  could 
not  be  morally  justified  in  assuming  a  right  to  force 
a  premature  contact  with  the  child.  The  precept  of 
moral  intention  toward  the  child  for  the  child's  good, 
will  not  justify  the  teaching  of  synonymes  and  dual 
definition  of  words  to  attract  the  attenion  of  a  child 
for  the  same  purpose  that  it  was  formerly  frightened 
to  death. 

If  the  child  is  naturally  born  to  make  its  own  way 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  309 

in  the  world  according  to  Scriptures,  objects  spring- 
ing up  in  its  path  with  pretence  of  assistance  only  to 
betray  its  confidence,  is  more  the  object  of  systems 
that  give  evidence  of  self  protection  rather  than  any 
sincere  interest  in  enlightening  the  weaklings  of  hu- 
manity. The  ''settled"  convictions  of  the  predeces- 
sors of  the  child,  that  it  is  a  dependent  creature,  is  a 
false  premise  to  start  with,  but  if  the  child  can  be 
taught  to  believe  it,  it  becomes  a  passive  toy  which 
the  great  multitude  of  systems  and  "free  institutions" 
depend  upon  for  support. 

It  is  a  very  narrow  objection  and  also  a  poor  excuse 
to  demand  reasons  for  spiritual  power  or  Divine  gov- 
ernment. To  transcend  the  infinite  in  thought,  does 
not  establish  a  fact  that  the  imaginative  faculty  of  the 
mind  may  portray.  Every  one  who  can  imagine 
things  can  reasonably  believe  that  any  one  with  nor- 
mal faculties  can  do  the  same  thing,  after  experience 
reveals  self-consciousness — concrete  knowledge;  and 
to  continue  the  analogy  to  a  conclusion,  if  knowledge 
is  truth,  it  is  also  God,  proving  the  empirical  charac- 
ter of  every  human  being.  Knowledge  is  not  a  prod- 
uct but  a  producer  possessing  value  of  an  infinite 
character.  The  effort  to  qualify  or  predicate  what 
the  word  truth  represents  exposes  the  folly  of  pre- 
decessors to  their  posterity,  providing  that  systems 
of  destruction  that  would  advocate  the  ''breaking" 
of  a  child's  will,  are  successfully  combatted  by  the  babe 
who  is  better  provided  with  means  than  any  system 
that  has  no  protection,  except  their  ability  to  misin- 
terpret literal  words,  and  give  them  special  defini- 
tions, to  catch  the  unwary  in  the  net  of  sophistry. 
It  is  like  the  merchant  who  seeks  the    trade    of    those 


3IO  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

who  offer  the  least  resistance  to  his  methods, — the 
main  object  being  to  hide  his  inner  purpose  with  an 
external  grace  of  pretension. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 

n^HE  marvelous  growth  of  America  is  due  to  the 
-■■  public  schools,  they  existed  before  political  greed  be- 
came organized,  which  was  a  mere  supplement  of 
commercial  greed.  Commerce  had  scarcely  devolved 
from  piracy  at  the  close  of  the  American  Revolution 
and  only  for  the  moral  integrity  of  Washington, 
Jefferson  and  Franklin,  the  new-born  States  would 
have  declared  war  against  each  other.  The  com- 
promise that  effected  a  federation  of  States  was  a 
co-partnership  of  commerce  and  politics.  The  people 
served  one  or  the  other  and  frequently  both,  as  long 
as  it  did  not  effect  personal  liberty,  which  at  that 
time  included  religion  and  education  both. 

The  civil  war  was  occasioned  by  a  quarrel  between 
commerce  and  politics  over  the  division  of  the  spoils, 
for  the  country  had  commenced  to  grow  wealthy,  but 
personal  liberty  had  also  grown  with  wealth,  and  that 
natural  God-given  principle  held  the  balance  of  power 
and  won  the  victory.  Commerce  and  politics  are 
quarreling  again,  which   will  result  in   another  war  un- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  3II 

less  the   school   teachers   of  America  prevent  it,   for 
at  present  they  hold  the  balance  of  power. 

It  is  immaterial  whether  school  teachers  fully  real- 
ize they  are  the  instruments  of  polity  or  not,  if  they 
will  only  study  the  situation  with  philosophical  care, 
they  could  see  how  impossible  it  is  for  their  personal 
liberty  to  be  conquered  by  political  greed.  Honesty 
is  not  a  policy,  while  it  may  be  good  policy  to  be  hon- 
est, also  when  honesty  is  prompted  by  a  motive,  it 
only  appears  to  be  such,  a  mere  symbol  of  honesty. 
Spiritual  honesty  should  be  studied  separately  from 
symbolical  honesty.  The  State  may  have  usurped 
its  authority,  as  history  distinctly  records  that  they 
all  have,  it  would  not  justify  a  teacher  of  a  public 
school  in  berating  his  employer,  from  whom  he  took 
pay.  That  is,  to  condemn  a  system  as  dishonest  and 
continue  to  embrace  it,  is  self-condemnation,  for  the 
teacher  is  an  integral  part  of  the  system.  Govern- 
ment is  a  cardinal  principle,  but  it  never  rises  superior 
to  the  people  who  are  its  natural  protectors.  It  estab- 
lishes a  reciprocity  of  protection  of  strictly  a  mate- 
rial character.  A  careful  observation  would  disclose 
the  importance  of  treating  a  spiritual  goverment  as 
distinct  from  a  visible  government  instituted  for  so- 
cial protection.  The  fact  that  teachers  even  hold 
different  opinions  upon  this  subject  is  strong  proof 
that  spiritual  authority  is  an  independent  govern- 
ment, for  it  could  not  exist  if  two  persons  were  in- 
spired or  delegated  by  the  same  power  to  contradict 
each  other.  It  is  not  strange  that  a  difference  of  opin- 
ion exists,  but  with  a  respect  for  reason,  it  could  be 
seen  how  impossible  it  would  be  to  obtain  a  diverg- 
ing opinion  from  a  source  so  infallible  as  spiritual  au- 
thority. 


312  THE  ECONOMY   OF  EDUCATION. 

While  it  would  be  wise  to  recognize  spiritual  au- 
thority from  which  no  one  was  ever  known  to  escape, 
it  would  appear  unwise  to  admit  the  invisibility  of 
a  principle,  and  then  dispute  it  by  an  elaborate  infu- 
sion of  ideal  explanation.  That  may  exalt  a  teacher, 
but  it  confounds  the  child's  understanding  when  it 
was  practically  being  instructed  to  discard  its  own 
experience,  and  be  guided  by  a  teacher  who  claimed 
to  make  invisible  principles  visible.  It  is  more  im- 
portant to  recognize  the  impartial  character  of  invis- 
ible authority  than  to  attempt  to  direct  its  influences. 
Education  as  a  general  principle  is  more  to  contend 
against  greed,  than  to  cultivate  it,  therefore  public 
schools  supervised  by  political  authority  are  a  self- 
conviction  of  a  dishonest  purpose. 

A  public  school  is  not  a  "free  school"  as  it  is  some- 
times called  because  the  word  "free"  is  a  very  signifi- 
cant word  of  an  empirical  character,  and  the  distor- 
tion of  the  word  could  not  be  consistently  applied  to 
a  school  where  freedom  was  held  in  abeyance;  taught 
freely  in  precept  but  strangely  contradicted  by  a  mul- 
titude of  obligations  thrust  upon  the  attention  of  a 
child  before  its  experience  had  scarcely  passed  the 
period  of  innocence.  It  should  be  understood,  there- 
fore, that  a  public  school  is  supported  and  protected 
by  the  public  for  the  common  good.  If  this  is  a  mere 
sentiment  it  is  because  governments  have  not  reached 
a  point  of  honesty  beyond  their  political  swaddling 
clothes.  It  being  recognized  that  the  purpose  of  a 
public  school  is  for  the  common  good,  it  then  rests 
with  the  teacher  whether  the  honest  purpose  or  the 
political  purpose  will  be  served.  The  supposition 
that   the   title   of  personal   liberty   is   only   conferred 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  313 

Upon  teachers  by  political  or  state  decree,  would  con- 
sign a  flock  of  children  to  a  condition  of  slavery,  to 
promote  a  political  end  rather  than  the  common  good. 

A  teacher  who  would  take  umbrage  at  having  his 
opinions  criticised,  would  exhibit  a  narrowness  of 
mind,  decidedly  unfitting  him  for  the  responsible 
care  of  youth,  yet  such  is  the  political  influence  if 
strictly  obeyed,  that  natural  education  would  be  the 
only  protection  of  personal  freedom.  There  is  no 
higher  type  of  personal  freedom  than  the  privilege 
to  determine  the  motive  as  well  as  the  action.  It 
suggests  that  a  moral  sense  is  just  as  real  as  con- 
sciousness. It  requires  no  dogmatic  discussion  to  de- 
termine what  is  admitted  to  be  a  personal  privilege  to 
determine  for  one's  self.  A  person  could  exercise 
a  personal  freedom  and  deny  it  to  another  when  from 
a  literal  standpoint  the  principle  would  hold  good. 
A  person  who  had  not  reached  a  point  of  experience, 
to  determine  whether  morality  was  directly  or  in- 
directly revealed,  would  be  an  uncertain  school 
teacher,  even  if  he  possesed  a  remarkable  volume  of 
literal  ability.  To  be  concise :  When  a  teacher  tries 
to  believe  that  tuition  supersedes  intuition,  he  would 
be  ill-fitted  to  promote  the  purpose  of  a  public  school, 
allowing  that  he  might  not  be  a  positive  detriment. 
There  is  no  state  employer  that  occupies  such  a  re- 
sponsible position  as  the  teacher  of  a  public  school. 
.It  is  a  moral  obligation  rather  than  political,  for  the 
State  itself  will  grow  corrupt  to  its  own  destruction, 
if  honesty  of  practice  is  left  to  a  mere  declaration  of 
purpose. 

The  public  school  as  a  principle  is  superior  to  its 
official  management  which  never  reaches  above  hu- 


314  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

man  frailties.  The  teacher  has  a  touch  of  ostentation 
when  he  takes  credit  in  belonging  to  a  faculty  from 
which  public  schools  were  founded.  It  would  be  well 
to  realize  that  public  schools  were  the  outcome  of 
opportunity,  and  teachers  were  executives  rather  than 
founders  of  the  institutions.  It  is  important  for  a 
sincere  teacher  to  consider  that  schools  were  de- 
manded by  the  populace  rather  than  forced  upon 
them  by  the  professors  of  learning.  History  is  better 
evidence  than  personal  opinion,  for  at  no  period  in 
the  world's  history  were  the  professionally  learned 
ever  disposed  to  enlighten  the  populace.  To  the  con- 
trary every  effort  was  made  to  prevent  the  populace 
from  learning  of  their  natural  rights.  It  requires  no 
argument  to  observe  that  when  a  person  can  read 
books,  he  can  also  reason  about  them.  The  relation, 
therefore,  between  professors  of  learning  and  the  pop- 
ulace must  change  to  conform  to  the  principle  of  the 
public  school,  or  youth  must  be  trained  to  serve  at 
the  command  of  the  professionally  learned.  If  learn- 
ing was  withheld  from  the  populace  for  the  purpose 
of  a  continual  subjugation,  which  is  a  historical  fact, 
can  the  subjugation  continue  since  the  effort  to  pre- 
vent popular  education  has  practically  ceased? 

It  reflects  a  suspicion  that  the  learned  as  a  profes- 
sional body  are  not  willing  to  admit  the  relation  of 
public  schools  to  civilization.  They  are  of  compara- 
tive recent  introduction,  since  the  advent  of  America 
presented  the  opportunity.  An  immediate  surrender 
of  political  power  is  not  characteristic  of  human  na- 
ture, and  when  public  schools  have  to  struggle  for 
existence  against  political  opposition  it  presents  a 
situation  analagous    to    the    struggle    of    Christianity; 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  315 

first  Opposed  for  its  destruction,  and  then  embraced 
for  the  purpose  of  political  control,  with  the  same 
object  in  view  as  its  former  destruction.  It  can  only 
be  from  a  neglect  of  history,  not  to  observe  that  pro- 
fessional man  and  political  man  have  always  con- 
tended for  popular  obedience  to  their  authority. 

It  is  idle,  therefore,  to  hold  that  personal  liberty, 
public  schools  and  the  freedom  of  religion  are  the 
result  of  a  reversal  of  ancient  holdings.  Present  cir- 
cumstances will  not  warrant  such  a  conclusion.  It 
is  this  fact  that  the  present  school  teacher  is  con- 
cerned with.  He  must  choose  whether  he  will  be 
guided  by  his  personal  experience  (the  limit  of  his 
judgment)  or  follow  the  indirect  authority  of  an- 
other's experience.  There  is  no  escape  from  the 
choice,  between  personal  liberty  and  personal  sub- 
mission. From  a  moral  standpoint  personal  judg- 
ment is  a  command,  with  a  penalty  for  non-compliance 
attached. 

Personal  liberty,  Christianity,  and  public  schools 
are  derived  from  an  invisible  force  over  which  polity 
has  no  control.  The  relation  of  the  teacher  is  sub- 
ordinate to  the  cardinal  principle  of  education,  and 
moral  obligation  commands  his  first  attention.  He 
may  study  morality  from  a  spiritual  or  literal  stand- 
point; if  he  follows  a  polity  and  neglects  the  natural 
sense  of  moral  duty  he  admits  spiritual  morality,  by 
seeking  to  escape  its  penalties,  in  embracing  the  lit- 
eral— that  is,  a  persistent  effort  to  comply  with  an 
invisible  command  by  a  visible  display  of  literal  moral- 
ity. If  the  meaning  is  still  vague,  it  relates  to  the 
difference  between  the  truth  and  theory — between  the 
direct  and  indirect  revelation,  or  between  the  spirit- 
ual and  the  literal. 


3l6  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

When  personal  liberty  and  education  are  accepted 
as  cardinal  principles,  it  is  more  the  duty  of  a  school 
teacher  to  determine  what  he  thinks  himself  is  proper 
instruction  for  youth  than  to  blindly  teach  literal 
authority  by  reason  of  its  prominency  too  often  due 
to  political  sagacity.  That  the  public  school  was  a 
natural  conception  is  the  point  to  be  considered, 
against  the  vanity  of  man  in  teaching  the  innocence 
of  childhood  the  wonders  of  Nature  are  only  to  be 
known  from  written  language.  That  this  is  the  trend 
of  text  books,  is  the  authority  from  which  such  a  con- 
clusion is  drawn.  It  is  counteracted,  however,  by 
the  differential  character  of  school  teachers,  which 
also  shows  the  distinction  between  a  public  school 
as  a  cardinal  principle,  and  one  that  man  would  strict- 
ly confine  to  book  authority,  with  the  vicarious  at- 
titude of  man  which  he  is  prone  to  assert  for  himself. 

The  public  school  supersedes  the  State  supervision, 
in  the  sense  that  it  is  a  principle  apart  from  political 
control  in  like  manner  as  religion,  which  is  gradually 
withdrawing  from  such  control.  That  a  nation  con- 
trols its  subjects  as  a  means  of  self-preservation  ap- 
plies to  a  State  that  tries  to  unite  politics  and  religion. 
It  will  devolve  upon  the  vigilance  of  school  teachers 
individually  to  counteract  the  political  effort  to  con- 
trol secular  schools  for  the  same  end  that  religious 
schools  were  maintained  previous  to  the  advent  of 
American  independence.  Morality  is  the  principle 
derived  from  sense  conception,  a  principle  above  po- 
litical control.  It  is  not  confined  to  a  few  literal  pre- 
cepts, but  it  embraces  the  general  principle  of  hon- 
esty. The  child  is  confiding  and  easily  misled.  The 
reasoning  faculty  to  the  extent  that  experience  has 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  317 

developed  is  very  keen  in  youth,  for  that  reason  an 
evasion  of  the  truth  will  tend  to  withdraw  a  previous 
confidence  in  the  teacher,  and  when  a  complete  loss 
of  confidence  occurs,  moral  instruction  would  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  convenience  rather  than  an  obligation. 

A  school  teacher  who  voluntarily  follows  text  books 
by  reason  of  their  introduction  into  public  schools  at 
the  command  of  state  authority,  would  contradict  by 
his  own  act  any  precept  that  he  might  advance  to 
youth,  in  regard  to  the  importance  of  individual  think- 
ing. That  is,  it  would  be  practically  absurd  to  per- 
suade a  child  to  think  with  a  proviso  that  it  confined 
its  thoughts  to  what  it  was  taught  to  think.  It  would 
be  idle  to  hold  that  a  child,  grown  to  adult  age  would 
profit  by  his  training  and  think  for  himself.  A  child 
may  forget  much  of  his  early  training,  but  he  never 
forgets  any  little  deception  practiced  upon  him  by 
parent  or  teacher. 

An  empirical  decision  is  very  attractive  to  a  child, 
and  proves  conclusively  that  he  is  more  inclined  to  be 
honest  than  dishonest,  but  when  he  observes  a  teacher 
refusing  to  practice  the  precepts  of  a  text  book  with 
an  evasive  excuse,  the  child  drifts  into  a  course  of 
deception  more  readily  than  it  can  be  eradicated.  A 
code  of  moral  ethics  is  not  necessary  for  the  average 
school  teacher's  observation,  when  he  has  the  prac- 
tical facts  before  his  eyes;  for  that  reason  a  polity  of 
method  other  than  strict  honesty  will  not  make  the 
l>est  citizen,  what  the  State  desires.  The  State  as 
a  power  to  control  the  public  schools,  has  no  interest 
in  it  beyond  its  own  preservation.  The  moral  fea- 
true  of  the  schools  devolves  upon  the  personnel  of 
the  teacher.     Text  books  of  the  mystic  order,  treating 


3l8  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Upon  idealism  and  psychology,  is  dogmatic  polity,  be- 
cause the  motive  is  hidden.  Such  books  are  not  re- 
ligious or  moral,  because  they  are  untrue.  If  it  is, 
therefore,  more  important  to  maintain  a  deceptive 
principle  than  preserve  the  welfare  of  the  child,  the 
responsibility  rests  with  the  individual  teacher,  for 
the  decision  must  be  empirical  regardless  of  differ- 
ential opinions.  It  is  an  extension  of  moral  obliga- 
tion, when  the  welfare  of  a  group  of  children  is  of 
less  importance  than  the  personal  interest  of  a  teach- 
er, who  would  use  his  office  to  foster  factional  con- 
tentions. 

The  dual  character  of  education  is  divided  between 
the  natural  and  book  knowledge.  To  teach  a  child 
that  knowledge  is  dependent  upon  books  and  a  media- 
tor, is  to  maintain  pagan  prerogatives.  Allowing 
that  children  are  verbally  taught  the  importance  of 
thinking  for  themselves,  the  principle  is  immediately 
contradicted  by  books  that  make  it  more  attractive 
to  be  guided  by  the  thoughts  of  others.  This  con- 
fusion favors  the  most  attractive  method  and  as  a 
mere  observation,  it  is  doubtful  if  one  out  of  a  hun- 
dred of  the  book-taught,  have  an  idea,  or  if  they  did 
understand  what  it  means  for  a  person  to  think  for 
one's  self,  he  would  not  be  willing  to  do  so,  simply 
because  book  knowledge  holds  out  the  greatest  ex- 
pectation. While  books  therefore  contend  for  tui- 
tion. Nature  insists  upon  intuition,  and  this  struggle 
for  supremacy  over  Nature  may  be  a  necessary  evil, 
but  dishonesty  and  superficial  morality  will  never  be 
a  virtue. 

A  child  is  not  a  machine  and  the  great  variety  of 
methods  to  make   him   such   has   always   resulted   in 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  3I9 

failure  sooner  or  later.  Slavery,  State  ownershp  of 
its  subjects  and  the  modern  method  of  controlling  ed- 
ucation, are  parallel  efforts  to  make  machines  of  hu- 
manity. It  is  not  for  one  person  to  assert  it,  but  re- 
sults of  modern  education,  cannot  be  varnished  over 
with  eloquence  or  rhetoric.  The  modern  method  of 
slavery  is  practically  to  win  the  confidence  of  the 
child  for  the  sole  purpose  of  betraying  it.  A  few  ab- 
stract exceptions  do  not  effect  the  general  result, 
and  when  parents  realize  from  their  own  disappoint- 
ment, how  their  confidence  was  betrayed,  a  revolution 
of  some  character  must  occur  for  Nature  will  not  be 
imposed  upon  for  the  convenience  of  greed.  School 
teachers  with  moral  convictions  (not  superficial  mor- 
als) can  control  the  situation  by  individual  effort, 
for  collective  efforts  in  accomplishing  reforms  can  be 
more  readily  overcome  than  the  honest  convictions 
of  a  single  person.  It  is  for  the  reason  that  a  person 
is  not  a  machine,  the  empirical  stands  for.  What 
experience  teaches  to  be  true,  is  the  only  method  by 
which  civilization  is  possible. 

The  continual  effort  derived  from  antiquity  to 
maintain  that  knowledge  is  necessarily  derived  from 
a  mediator  is  a  condition  of  polity.  If  it  is  true,  it 
should  be  asserted  in  an  open,  frank  manner,  void  of 
all  esoteric  phraseology.  If  it  is  believed  to  be  false 
it  should  be  as  frankly  denounced.  The  teacher  or 
his  protege  cannot  escape  a  personal  decision  of 
whether  knowledge  is  obtained  directly  or  indirectly; 
or  whether  intuition  is  superior  to  tuition.  It  is  medi- 
ocrity that  is  concerned  with  this  proposition,  for  the 
ultra  learned  are  not  ignorant  of  the  facts. 


320  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


PURE   REASON. 


"pEASON,  to  be  what  is  universally  claimed  for  it,  can 
^^  be  no  less  than  the  simple  truth.  Simple  because  it  is 
a  common  privilege,  truth,  because  it  relates  to  conceived 
consciousness,  by  reason  of  contact  with  an  external  ob- 
ject. A  discussion  in  literal  signs  is  only  a  step  removed 
from  the  defining  of  words,  because  the  science  of  myth- 
ology is  constantly  reappearing  under  a  new  name,  and 
proved  by  the  remarkable  ability  of  man  in  a  deferential 
degree  to  distort  words  to  deceive  the  credulous  and 
compel  the  foolish  to  serve  the  wise. 

Modern  mythology  would  have  to  be  disguised  in  a 
new  dress,  and  a  change  of  name,  if  the  populace  could 
be  persuaded  immediately  to  believe  there  was  only  one 
God.  Primarily  considered,  the  same  principle  is  in- 
volved at  birth,  since  it  would  be  impossible  to  conceive 
consciousness  in  the  absence  of  a  fall,  or  contact  with 
some  external  object.  Pure  reason  suggests,  without 
seeking  a  possible  objection,  that  the  mythical  character 
of  words  would  no  doubt  be  equal  to,  that  a  child  could 
not  think  in  the  absence  of  something  to  think  about,  or 
feel  without  some  contact  of  a  negative  character.  In 
the  absence  of  the  sense  of  love,  it  would  be  reasonable 
from  general  observation  that  humanity  would  have  com- 
mitted suicide  before  it  would  have  tolerated  the  pres- 
ence of  a  child.     What  has   man,  considered   as  a  free 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  32 1 

moral  agent,  got  to  his  credit  against  what  history  re- 
cords against  him? 

Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  eulogizes  mythology  as  having 
been  a  necessary  method  of  human  progress.  He  does 
not  assume  that  myths  were  matters  of  fact,  but  he  ap- 
pears sincere  in  clinging  to  the  science  of  mythology 
while  his  own  thoughts  are  thoroughly  absorbed  in  the 
single  end  he  has  in  view — the  science  of  evolution.  His 
entire  writings  are  an  elaborate  attempt  to  apologize  for 
intellectual  tyranny.  Orthodox  opinions  can  undoubt- 
edly be  held  with  a  sincere  purpose  in  trying  to  improve 
society.  But  a  strict  method  of  esoteric  logic  would  not 
permit  Spencer  to  see  the  error  in  his  philosophy,  which 
is  general  in  the  system  itself,  and  scarcely  removed 
from  the  doctrine  of  socialism.  The  whole  is  ideal  illu- 
sion or  modern  mythology,  lacking  the  essential  feature 
of  pure  reason.  The  difference  in  species  and  opinions, 
is  scarcely  recognized  as  a  wise  provision  against  the 
danger  of  a  passive  life,  when  intelligent  existence  would 
be  as  mythical  as  an  ideal  conception  of  perfection. 

The  breath  of  life  is  a  common  inheritance  revealed  to 
everything  that  lives ;  empirical  consciousness  is  the  very 
genesis  of  personal  judgment.  It  is  a  title  that  cannot 
be  transferred,  however  submissive  a  person  may  become 
by  persuasion  or  fright.  A  leader,  may  he  be  a  chief, 
king,  or  director  of  a  minor  organization,  acts  from  a 
disposition  to  command.  Every  babe  is  a  bom  leader 
and  commands  every  object  he  perceives  that  obeys  him, 
but  if  the  object  becomes  aggressive  he  demands  assist- 
ance ;  if  that  is  not  promptly  rendered,  he  learns  humility 
by  experience,  from  which  source  pure  reason  is  also  de- 
rived. The  first  conception  of  a  thought  is  a  direct  reve- 
lation of  invisible  authority,  but  a  visible  revelation  of 


Z22  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

indirect  authority  produces  an  activity  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  when  reason  directs  the  choice  between  the 
positive  and  negative  character  of  the  will.  The  differ- 
ence, therefore,  between  a  visible  command  and  that 
which  is  spiritual  would  not  concern  a  child,  for  it  natu- 
rally clings  to  a  visible  object  simply  because  it  can  be 
seen  and  felt.  It  is  a  miraculous  wisdom  that  bestows 
a  latent  intelligence  within  the  brain  cells  of  a  human 
being.  The  point  is,  that  latent  intelligence  is  spiritual, 
and  however  unconscious  a  child  may  be  of  the  intelli- 
gence it  is  in  possession  of,  it  is  all  the  child  will  ever 
possess.  Cultivation  is  a  mere  figure  of  speech  relating 
to  personal  convenience,  having  no  authority  over  spirit- 
ual intelligence. 

The  mythology  of  the  ancients  shows  conclusively  that 
it  could  not  have  existed  except  in  proportion  to  a  devel- 
oped intelligence.  It  was  the  system  of  education  that 
political  necessity  appeared  to  command,  since  distant 
races  having  had  no  known  connection  with  each  other, 
evolved  a  mythology  in  general  character  the  same.  It 
would  appear  from  a  moral  standpoint  more  reasonable 
to  arrive  at  a  distinctly  opposite  conclusion  from  that  of 
the  modern  school  of  evolution,  scarcely  any  advance 
from  the  universal  practice  of  mythology. 

It  should  be  observed  that  slavery  or  some  form  of 
subjugation  was  always  contemporaneous  with  myth- 
ology. It  would  hardly  appear  reasonable  that  a  leader 
of  a  gregarious  collection  of  humanity  could  be  intelli- 
gent enough  to  act  the  tyrant  in  taking  advantage  of  the 
weakness  of  his  followers,  and  not  know  it.  Besides,  all 
rulers  and  leaders  have  not  been  tyrants,  which  proves 
that  tyranny  was  not  an  essential  factor  of  leadership. 

Experience  is  a  continual  unfolding  of  intelligence,  but 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  323 

if  there  was  no  inner  intelligence  there  would  be  nothing 
to  unfold.  A  leader  can  only  bring  forth  his  followers 
when  such  followers  exist.  He  can  also  teach  them  evo- 
lution, but  the  act  of  evolving  is  controlled  by  the  inner 
command,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  intelligence  that 
experience  had  evolved.  Hence  there  is  no  intrinsic 
principle  that  a  leader  or  ruler  will  admit  after  declaring 
his  purpose  to  lead  or  rule.  He  will  not  admit  that  evo- 
lution is  a  natural  or  spiritual  growth  because  his  end  in 
view  is  to  lead  or  rule,  which  implies  the  necessity  of  a 
mediator  in  the  evolving  of  intelligence.  The  presump- 
tion of  a  leader  or  ruler  is  farther  extended  by  insisting 
upon  their  power  to  transmit  intelligence  exclusively  of 
the  common  privilege  bestowed  upon  entire  humanity. 

Literal  reason  depends  upon  literal  words,  and  such 
reason  is  lacking  in  purity  in  proportion  to  the  defective 
character  of  etymology  which  explains  the  use  of  words, 
but  in  attempting  to  explain  their  origin,  the  spiritual 
power  to  produce  words  is  not  recognized.  Thus  pure 
reason  is  buried  in  silence,  while  visible  reason  or  the  lit- 
eral, parades  itself  as  the  ruling  power. 

The  fact  that  all  ancient  rulers  adopted  some  form  of 
mythology  introduced  the  means  to  establish  a  literal 
philosophy.  Material  evolution  is  constructed  upon  the 
same  principle  as  mythology,  for  the  purpose  of  justify- 
ing the  interposition  of  a  superior  type  of  humanity,  be- 
tween the  genesis  of  life  and  intelligent  development. 
To  disprove  it  by  literal  reason  is  impossible,  for  an  in- 
visible Spirit  can  be  materially  clothed  in  relative  words 
or  figures  to  any  extent  that  the  imagery  of  thought 
may  construct.  Spiritual  reason,  however,  is  pure  rea- 
son that  silently  evolves  a  growth  that  the  egotism  of 
man  seeks  to  explain  for  his  own  advantage.    It  is  pure 


324  THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION. 

reason,  however,  that  determines  the  difference  between 
actual  personal  experience  and  that  which  is  derived 
from  language  relating  to  the  experience  of  others. 

Mythology,  slavery,  and  literal  education,  are  iden- 
tical methods  having  the  same  end  in  view.  Natural 
or  spiritual  evolution,  which  is  practically  the  cardi- 
nal principle  of  education,  the  only  method  also  by 
which  pure  reason  is  possible,  transcends  the  mytho- 
logical as  sunlight  supersedes  darkness.  The  con- 
ception of  an  idea  is  a  spiritual  effect;  it  constitutes 
a  touch  of  Knowledge  and  the  effort  of  a  philologist 
to  make  words  to  conform  to  his  desires,  institutes  a 
system  of  mythology,  idealism,  or  imagination, — which- 
ever word  is  used,  the  same  end  is  involved.  Any 
reason  that  is  advanced  to  justify  a  qualification  of 
Spirit  or  conceived  knowledge,  is  as  constantly  de- 
flected by  pure  reason  as  it  is  constantly  presented  in 
different  form.  The  myths  of  the  ancients  were  the 
same  as  the  myths  of  the  moderns,  the  only  differ- 
ence being  a  change  of  name.  MacMuller  calls  myth- 
ology the  outcome  of  a  diseased  language,  but  who 
can  conceive  of  a  pure  thought  being  corrupted  by  a 
diseased  language?  Spencer  says  that  science  is  in- 
debted to  mythology,  by  which  process  the  survival 
of  the  fittest  was  evolved.  Spiritual  knowledge  or 
natural  knowledge  he  would  only  consider  as  "vul- 
gar." 

The  inference  from  such  doctrine  could  be  drawn 
that  indirect  knowledge  was  necessary,  even  if  mythi- 
cal to  overcome  the  "vulgar"  knowledge  directly  con- 
ceived. The  fact  that  myths  were  constructed  by 
distinct  races,  and  always  by  those  who  had  evolved 
a  greater  degree  of  knowledge,  since  the  purpose  was 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  325 

the  same  of  deceiving  those  of  a  less  evolved  con- 
ception, it  v^ould  suggest  that  Spencer's  effort  to 
substitute  material  evolution  for  the  spiritual,  was 
not  only  mythical,  but  for  the  same  purpose — to 
frighten  the  credulous.  Drummond,  also,  tries  to 
materialize  Spirit,  (the  essence  of  mythology)  by 
constructing  ideal  spirits  in  correspondence.  When 
pure  reason  can  be  persuaded  to  surrender  to  mythi- 
cal reason,  the  object  of  such  a  science  is  determined 
by  the  result.  Because  the  populace  are  less  devel- 
ope  dis  the  results  from  the  predilection  of  those  who 
simply  attract  followers. 

The  fact  that  the  most  obscure  species  of  humanity 
gives  evidence  of  a  progressive  intelligence,  shows 
that  every  effort  of  man  to  apotheosize  himself  as 
the  progenitor  of  intelligence  is  a  myth.  The  science 
of  mythology  developed  in  proportion  to  the  immedi- 
ate success  attending  it.  The  institution  of  slavery 
and  its  decline  proves  that  tyranny  was  fostered  by 
developed  intelligence.  The  effort  to  apologize  for 
tyranny  as  a  necessary  evil  to  promote  evolution, 
lacks  the  important  feature  of  pure  reason,  no  less 
empirical  than  the  fact  that  freedom  and  liberty  are 
an  individual  conception  from  which  circumstance 
intelligent  progress  asserts  itself  against  the  collec- 
tive polity  of  man  to  obstruct  it.  The  effort  to  main- 
tain a  theoracy  against  the  silent  judgment  of  the 
individual  has  always  failed.  A  government  that  as- 
sumes a  paternal  attitude  over  the  inborn  title  to  pri- 
vate judgment,  is  equally  a  subject  to  the  Higher 
Authority  as  each  of  its  sentient  units  are.  The  gov- 
ernment may  be  called  by  any  name  that  can  be  man- 
ufactured, but  it  is  always  a  protected  institution  as 


326  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

well  as  protective.  For  that  reason  when  a  government 
usurps  authority  in  defiance  of  personal  liberty,  and 
pure  reason  it  is  a  dangerous  experiment. 

Abstract  education  by  compulsion  can  be  equally 
as  oppressive  as  any  form  of  slavery.  It  is  simply 
taking  advantage  of  a  weak  intelligence  to  serve  the 
more  developed.  Real  education  is  not  a  product  of 
compulsion,  a  being  in  possession  of  conceived  intelli- 
gence is  the  equal  at  least  of  a  blade  of  grass  and 
that  even  cannot  be  compelled  to  grow.  It  would  be 
well  to  consider  what  is  meant  by  education.  A  per- 
son's brain  could  be  filled  with  reflections  of  other 
people's  thoughts  and  considered  education.  In  that 
case  it  would  be  a  tacit  admission  that  indirect  edu- 
cation embraced  it  all.  Latent  intelligence  and  pure 
reason  would  slumber  in  a  person's  brain  after  he 
was  thoroughly  forced  to  accept  the  indirect  process 
as  superseding  the  direct.  This  is  the  point  when 
myth  would  be  mistaken  for  reality,  because  it  had 
accomplished  its  object  in  convincing  a  person  that 
it  was  the  only  reality  there  was. 

It  does  not  concern  pure  reason  because  of  the 
prominence  of  a  person  who  would  advocate  compul- 
sory education  as  a  polity  for  the  protection  of  the 
state  or  society.  The  question  would  immediately 
occur,  whether  it  was  more  important  to  protect  the 
state  than  to  protect  the  child?  The  fact  that  com- 
pulsory education  is  limited  to  the  abstract,  or  in- 
direct defeats  its  declared  purpose,  since  what  intelli- 
gence has  directly  conceived  needs  no  compulsion 
which  would  destroy  its  directness.  It  follows  that  if 
the  prime  object  of  compulsion  is  to  supersede  direct 
intelligence     which     to    be    such    would    be    a    self-re- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  32/ 

vealing  force  that  might  be  obstructed,  but  never 
compelled  to  appear.  If  it  is  contended'  that  educa- 
tion is  to  "lead  forth"  the  mythical  pretence  is  still 
more  evident.  What  is  there  to  lead  forth  when  the 
very  conception  of  intelligence  is  to  spring  forth  until 
the  child's  confidence  is  betrayed,  by  which  process 
it  either  grows  stubborn  and  revengeful,  or  calmly 
submits  to  being  compelled  to  accept  the  thoughts  of 
others,  until  it  is  possible  for  a  person  to  forget  that 
he  had  intelligent  organs  to  forge  his  own  thoughts. 

It  is  an  admission  of  state  officials  that  advocate  a 
compulsory  education,  that  the  State  usurped  its 
authority,  since  it  would  be  absurd  to  compel  a  child 
to  respect  a  good  home.  Society  also  in  the  abstract, 
has  a  selfish  end  in  seeking  to  educate  children  to 
serve  its  purpose.  That  the  welfare  of  the  child  is 
a  secondary  motive,  and  known  to  be  such  is  ad- 
mitted by  the  process  employed  to  accomplish  it. 
For  that  reason  again,  the  responsibility  of  protecting 
the  children,  rests  with  the  individual  teacher. 

The  political  motive  of  the  State's  control  of  edu- 
cation, is  to  the  same  end  that  prompted  the  political 
effort  to  control  religion  in  the  dark  ages.  The  State 
effort  to  control  education  cannot  be  justified  by  pure 
reason  even  in  literal  methods  of  representing  reality; 
for  history  is  a  continuous  record  of  the  political  war- 
fare against  religion  and  education  both.  Hence  if 
the  entire  past  used  its  political  and  militant  power 
to  prevent  the  populace  from  developing,  it  must  have 
been  by  reason  of  the  people  showing  signs  of  ability 
to  progress.  Otherwise  no  force  would  have  been 
necessary  to  prevent  the  populace  acting  in  their  own 
defence,  if  intelligence  was  only  possible  by  indirect 


328  THE   ECONOMY    OF   EDUCATION. 

conveyance.  That  is,  if  the  populace  were  not  nat- 
urally endowed  with  intelligence,  it  would  have  been 
absurd  to  attempt  to  teach  them  anything,  and  if 
possible  more  absurd  to  try  to  prevent  an  occurrence 
so  obviously  impossible.  The  ability  of  man  to  dis- 
tort words  and  mutilate  language,  will  not  disguise 
the  political  intent  in  seeking  the  control  of  education, 
by  the  modern  renaissance  of  learning.  Besides, 
by  the  modern  renaissance  people  in  the  absence  of  assist- 
ance or  compulsion,  are  showing  to  the  entire  world 
that  opportunity  to  develop  religion  or  education,  is 
the  natural  right  of  every  living  thing  in  possession 
of  progressive  intelligence. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


OBSERVATIONS. 


TI  ^HAT  was,  what  should  be,  and  what  will  be,  are 
subjects  of  elaborate  discussion,  but  what  is,  wisdom 
apologizes  for,  and  whatever  cannot  be  hidden  behind 
curtains,  is  carefully  smothered  from  public  observa- 
tion by  a  trained  system  of  ridicule,  or  social  ostra- 
cism toward  anyone  who  dares  to  call  attention  to 
what  is.  Silence  is  ignored,  no  less  than  the  attempt 
at  presenting  any  remonstrance  against  the  modern 
educational  system. 

Less  than  one  hundred  men  in  each  State  of  the 
Union  not  only  control  the  State,  but  for  all  practi- 
cal purposes   they   are  the   State.      This    bureau    of 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  329 

authority  seeks  more  than  the  control  of  the  present, 
since  their  effort  to  control  the  thoughts  of  youth 
would  apparently  commit  the  unborn  future  to  their 
exclusive  wisdom.  Language  is  so  versatile  that  it 
appears  to  encourage  a  privilege  of  dissembling,  and 
from  an  impersonal  observation,  one  could  feel  chari- 
table toward  a  person  who  becomes  intoxicated  with 
the  intricacy  of  language.  The  difference  between  a 
literal  truth  and  a  spiritual  truth  appears  to  bewilder 
a  person.  It  suggests  a  possible  innocence  in  the  ab- 
sence of  experience.  In  fact  spiritual  truth  is  experi- 
ence. A  literal  truth  is  true  according  to  the  letter 
or  word  representing  an  object,  or  conceived  experi- 
ence. 

It  is  the  choice  of  priority  between  experience  and 
the  literal,  that  an  individual  is  compelled  to  accept, 
for  the  gulf  is  impassable  between  the  spiritual  and 
the  literal;  the  observation,  however,  is  strictly  a  per- 
sonal judgment,  as  much  so  as  empirical  existence. 
It  could  be  disputed  in  literal  words,  for  language  is 
as  accommodating  as  a  kaleidoscope,  yet  the  fact  that 
personality  is  the  most  sacred  institution  that  was 
ever  permitted  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  would 
be  as  self-evident  as  the  sense  of  feeling.  Science 
will  exhaust  itself  in  trying  to  discover  the  touch  of 
Spirit  that  moves  things,  since  the  correspondence  of 
Spirit  is  personality  sublime. 

The  limit  of  abstract  education  is  imitation  and  only 
possible  by  the  instrumentality  of  literal  or  figurative 
signs.  Hence  an  honest  language  would  be  an  econ- 
omy of  education  that  would  make  Christianity  a 
possibility. 

Since  Socrates  every    person    who  has    made  the  at- 


330  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

tempt  to  break  down  the  barrier  to  the  Star-Chamber 
of  esoteric  learning,  has  been  persecuted  in  some  form 
or  other.  It  shows  an  effort  to  combat  the  least  at- 
tempt to  practice  spiritual  intelligence  which  is  the 
declared  purpose  of  learning.  If  a  specific  few  can 
continue  to  limit  human  thought  by  maintaining  a 
secret  code  of  correspondence,  the  division  between 
the  animal  and  the  human  is  contingent  upon  the  abil- 
ity of  the  few  to  maintain  permanent  castes,  to  be 
recognized  according  to  a  division  of  language.  It 
is  noticeable  that  only  professions  need  to  be  con- 
ducted in  exclusive  language,  forming  a  peerage  that 
suggests  an  effort  to  monopolize  intelligence,  and  its 
distribution.  Either  religion  or  education  is  appar- 
ently controlled  by  this  monopoly  to  such  an  extent 
that  neither  will  be  socially  recognized  as  a  general 
principle,  if  language  is  defective  in  form.  This 
struggle  between  mental  and  physical  energy,  so- 
called,  may  continue  until  the  end  of  time,  but  it  will 
also  continue  to  be  dishonest. 

Social,  political,  and  commercial  disorders  are  dis- 
cussed in  accord  with  the  cast  of  language;  there  is  no 
interchange  of  thought,  as  a  rule  between  man  and  man, 
at  least  with  no  degree  of  equity.  The  trained  profes- 
sor teaches;  the  layman  obeys,  and  if  he  is  tractable  he 
is  initiated  into  the  Star-Chamber  of  esoteric  learning. 
It  does  not  appear  exclusive,  except  in  language,  which 
is  laboriously  studied  for  no  possible  purpose  other  than 
to  make  it  exclusive.  If  there  is  a  mistake  in  this  ob- 
servation there  is  no  mistake  in  the  indivisible  character 
of  spiritual  force.  Thus  to  divide  humanity  in  accord 
with  language,  two  forces  and  two  gods  must  necessar- 
ily be  acknowledged.    To  be  explicit,  if  there  is  in  reality 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  33 1 

a  mental  force  and  also  a  physical  force  there  is  only  one 
experience  to  determine  them.  It  is  strictly  an  observa- 
tion to  determine  whether  a  person  can  be  so  trained  or 
educated  as  to  yield  his  natural  conception,  and  be  sin- 
cerely convinced  that  his  knowledge  is  derived  from  ex- 
ternal influences.  The  ambiguity  of  language  appears 
to  favor  a  perpetual  division  of  humanity.  Yet  individ- 
ual conception  is  equally  persistent  in  insisting  upon  the 
truth  or  pure  principles.  Two  professors  of  learning 
will  contend  with  each  other  radically,  while  neither 
would  admit  a  common  intelligence  for  universal  human- 
ity. The  "high  and  low  type"  is  what  confounds  the 
learned  evolutionist,  or  the  most  ascetic  theologian. 
The  layman,  or  "low  type"  of  humanity,  are  not  recog- 
nized as  having  the  disposition  to  think  upon  the  rela- 
tions of  man  to  man.  From  the  standpoint  of  a  layman, 
it  could  be  observed  that  he  could  think  in  silence,  when 
he  could  only  observe  the  conduct  of  two  professors 
toward  each  other.  The  layman's  ignorance  of  the  lan- 
guage would  not  prevent  .him  from  studying  the  situa- 
tion in  his  own  simple  manner. 

"What  are  they  contending  about?"  would  be  the  nat- 
ural observation  of  a  dog.  As  a  supposition  it  would  be 
more  fortunate  for  a  person  who  was  unable  to  think 
for  himself,  than  to  be  burdened  with  the  "higher  type" 
faculties,  since  not  only  the  responsibility  of  conducting 
the  affairs  of  others  faithfully  and  honest,  the  empirical 
attitude  thus  admitted  would  have  to  be  supplemented 
by  additional  thoughts  in  proportion  to  what  was  denied 
to  others.  There  appears  to  be  a  natural  equity  between 
man  and  man,  even  if  he  is  ignorant  of  the  fact,  or  what 
would  be  worse  than  ignorance,  to  know  it,  and  not 
have  courage  enough  to  admit  it. 


332  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Common  courtesy  would  suggest  that  an  observation 
of  personal  conduct  could  be  kindly  considered  irre- 
spective of  station  or  caste;  providing  however,  it  was 
declared  to  be  free  of  any  political  intent.  That  is,  on 
strict  lines  of  a  personal  privilege  to  hold  and  also  ex- 
press an  opinion  that  humanity  is  figuratively  One.  A 
contrary  opinion  is  equally  allowable,  and  this  recognized 
courtesy  would  establish  a  theory  at  least  that  Man  in 
spiritual  equity  is  not  only  born  free  continually,  but 
was  always  born  free,  since  intelligence  was  first  re- 
vealed to  primitive  man.  The  individual  who  feels  that 
he  has  a  balance  in  his  favor  or  yet  an  obligation  due  to 
others,  has  this  important  feature  to  settle  with  himself, 
whether  he  is  willing  or  not.  If  he  decides  not  to  con- 
sider the  situation,  but  remains  indiflPerent  to  his  per- 
sonal privilege,  the  same  disregard  for  his  neglect  will 
be  observed  of  him  by  others.  To  escape  from  his  own 
presence  would  be  impossible. 

Now  to  apply  the  same  rule  of  a  prominent  evolu- 
tionist in  proving  material  evolution,  the  point  to  ob- 
serve is  whether  the  same  postulate  will  not  prove  spir- 
itual evolution,  after  which  the  difference  between  the 
spiritual  and  material  can  be  considered.  The  privilege 
of  private  judgment  could  not  be  such,  if  one  person 
claimed  a  right  to  exercise  his  own,  and  yet  to  extend 
the  right  to  decide  to  the  extent  of  prohibiting,  by  force 
if  necessary,  the  same  right  for  another.  It  is  a  mere 
assertion  from  which  no  proof  has  been  established,  that 
Spirit  cannot  think  except  it  is  in  touch  with  substance 
of  some  character.  In  any  event  it  is  strictly  an  empirical 
touch,  which  is  the  main  point  to  bear  in  mind.  There 
are  no  conditions  of  a  material  character  that  could  be 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  333 

attached  to  a  thought,  that  depended  upon  individuality 
to  make  the  touch  effective. 

The  predicating  of  conduct  to  estabHsh  a  circumstance 
of  exception  would  apply  to  the  condition  as  an  external 
feature,  and  also  material ;  but  it  would  in  no  sense  apply 
to  a  private  thought  which  derived  its  activity  from  a 
touch  within.  It  is  not  a  theory  or  doctrine  to  the  indi- 
vidual, since  the  organic  action  to  produce  a  thought  is 
strictly  confined  to  the  inner  realm.  Theory  and  doctrine 
immediately  occur  from  the  great  variety  of  efforts  to 
establish  correspondence  with  another  person.  The  in- 
visible, therefore,  is  a  principle  apart  from  material 
things,  except  its  touch  with  the  incarnate  person,  in  no 
sense  responsible  for  a  private  thought  by  reason  of  a 
responsibility  of  any  conduct  which  might  be  prompted 
by  the  thought. 

The  private  character  of  a  thought  is  determined  by 
the  same  individual  authority,  from  which  the  thought 
itself  is  derived.  Hence,  in  denying  or  affirming  the  right 
of  private  judgment,  and  the  spiritual  unity  of  humanity, 
the  inconsistency  of  denying  such  a  unity  could  scarcely 
escape  the  notice  of  a  person  who  thought  of  the  situa- 
tion sufficiently  to  deny  it.  Ambiguous  words  even 
would  be  exhausted  before  the  consequences  of  a  denial 
of  private  judgment  would  be  completed;  the  most  seri- 
ous of  which  would  be  for  one  person  to  exercise  his  own 
private  judgment  in  denying  the  same  privilege  to  an- 
other. 

Material  evolution  is  a  visible  fact  of  which  neither 
theory  or  philosophy  is  necessary  to  make  it  more  visible, 
for  that  reason  spiritual  evolution  suggesting  a  growth  of 
an  invisible  principle  would  be  equally  as  inconsistent  as 
to  assert  that  growth  in  material  things  required  to  be  ex- 


334  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

plained,  before  the  intelligence  of  one  person  could  com- 
prehend it,  without  the  explanation  derived  from  the  in- 
telligence of  another.  Spiritual  evolution  is  a  silent  force 
as  invisible  as  Spirit,  and  it  has  a  supreme  advantage 
over  material  growth,  because  it  requires  no  literal  inter- 
vention to  demonstrate  it  by  any  rule  which  material 
things  are  improved.  If  it  is  a  mere  figure  of  speech  to 
imply  that  Spirit  can  grow,  it  being  admitted  to  be  in- 
visible perfection,  it  is  equally  true  of  matter,  yet  growth 
is  a  visible  fact,  but  to  be  such  it  can  only  be  recognized 
by  the  individual,  which  is  more  important  to  concede 
than  to  admit  the  visible  fact. 

There  is  no  diflference  between  spiritual  growth  and 
material  growth  that  words  or  figures  can  portray.  The 
diflPerence  is  in  the  relative  signs.  That  is,  a  number  of 
words  can  be  used  to  signify  a  single  object,  but  the 
number  of  words  employed  add  no  attribute  to  the  ob- 
ject. When  obligation  and  responsibility  are  treated  as 
empirical,  it  requires  no  distortion  of  consciousness  to 
comprehend  the  fact  that  a  spiritual  truth  is  as  strictly 
individual  as  an  observation.  It  would,  therefore,  be  a 
safer  base  for  opinions  to  rest  upon,  than  any  literal  base 
that  can  never  rise  above  its  own  source.  Spiritual  lan- 
guage in  no  sense  depends  upon  the  literal,  but  a  corre- 
spondence of  observation  can  be  maintained  in  either 
form,  but  the  literal  method  can  only  become  true,  when 
it  compares  perfectly  with  the  spiritual,  or  whatever  de- 
gree of  experience  an  individual  may  have  attained. 
There  is  no  more  painful  observation  than  to  witness  the 
action  of  any  object  either  animate  or  inanimate,  indif- 
ferent to  its  own  comfort  and  repelling  its  own  abil- 
ity to  think  from  the  original  fountain,  such  a  person 
admitting  a  limited  experience,  by  the  display  of  an  un- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  335 

limited  abilty  to  express  the  thoughts  of  others.  It  pre- 
sents a  situation  that  repels  correspondence  in  spiritual 
language,  since  the  intoxicating  influence  of  the  thoughts 
of  others  is  in  complete  command  of  the  person  so  in- 
toxicated. 

The  spiritual  equity  of  man  is  an  immutable  fact,  that 
experience  is  cognizant  of.  Every  observation  of  what- 
ever character  must  be  based  upon  this  fundamental  prin- 
ciple or  intelligence,  so  called,  is  an  artificial  product. 
What  are  the  theologians,  philosophers,  and  scientists 
contending  about  when  they  cannot  agree  upon  a  defini- 
tion of  the  term  by  which  they  name  each  other?  The 
contention  has  been  more  or  less  continuous,  only  to  be 
settled  by  natural  adjustment.  The  gist  of  the  contention 
is  to  determine  whether  man  was  born  ready-made,  or 
made  by  his  progenitors  ever  seeking  to  usurp  the  credit, 
while  they  are  unable  to  prove  to  each  other  how  they 
do  it.  To  admit  the  spiritual  equity  of  man  would  imme- 
diately suggest  the  material  feature  of  the  situation,  when 
the  inequality  of  man  was  a  visible  feature  more  strik- 
ing than  the  silent  invisible.  A  man  can  be  born  the 
equal  of  any  other  man,  and  not  know  it,  and  what  would 
be  a  greater  misfortune  to  discover  the  fact  and  not  have 
courage  enough  to  admit  it.  The  effort  therefore  to 
maintain  a  peaceable  division  of  labor  in  transmitting 
knowledge  indirectly,  continues  to  grow  more  dubious, 
as  individual  courage  becomes  strengthened  by  the  con- 
ception of  spiritual  equality. 

It  is  immaterial  how  much  credit  the  professors  of 
learning  assume,  if  they  cannot  agree,  for  it  cultivates 
the  observations  of  the  laity,  and  stimulates  courage, 
since  a  contending  body  in  factional  dispute  corresponds 
with  direct  knowledge  more  perfectly  than  the  precepts 


336  THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION. 

of  a  contending  body.  The  influence  of  contention 
among  leaders  is  more  readily  comprehended  than  lit- 
eral instruction.  It  is  a  vivid  example  of  inconsistency, 
when  a  body  of  men  declare  they  are  contending  with 
each  other  to  establish  some  settled  method  of  convey- 
ing tuitive  instruction  to  the  undeveloped  people  of  weak 
intelligence.  It  could  be  observed  that  the  influence  of 
example  is  a  system  of  education  more  potent  and  less 
expensive  than  the  system  of  conveying  indirect  knowl- 
edge, which  is  admitted  by  the  contentions  between  the 
teachers  to  be  more  political  than  honest. 

The  constant  rebellion  instigated  by  direct  knowledge 
against  the  aggressive  character  of  indirect  systems  hav- 
ing no  unity  of  agreement,  can  only  be  determined  by 
observation.  It  is  a  stern  chase  for  literal  words  to  tran- 
scend experience  which  is  direct  knowledge.  The  vic- 
tim, therefore,  who  can  be  compelled  or  persuaded  to 
believe  that  tuition  transcends  intuition,  becomes  an  in- 
tellectual receiver,  and  however  brilliant  such  a  person 
may  become  in  rendering  with  perfect  exactness  the 
knowledge  so  received,  the  constructive  faculty  of  the 
brain  will  gradually  become  dormant,  when  an  original 
thought  would  excite  such  a  feeling  of  contempt  that  the 
most  important  faculty  of  the  brain  is  as  effectually 
closed  as  if  the  victim  had  never  been  born.  Not  to  know 
it  is  a  consolation,  but  such  protection  will  not  exclude 
observation.  The  political  pitfalls  are  parallel  to  the 
primitive  fall.  If  children,  therefore,  are  led  to  destruc- 
tion by  political  sagacity  in  forcing  them  to  be  taught 
that  knowledge  is  derived  from  our  predecessors,  and 
indirectly  transmitted  to  posterity,  the  responsibility  for 
their  destruction  rests  with  the  teacher  that  knows  better. 

When  a  person  observes  that  direct  knowledge  always 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  337 

supersedes  the  indirect,  it  will  also  follow  that  spiritual 
intelligence  is  impartially  bestowed  upon  the  human  race 
at  birth.  It  depends  upon  individual  observation,  also, 
to  notice  that  human  intelligence  distinct  from  animal  in- 
stinct, is  progressive,  by  reason  of  the  universal  dispo- 
sition of  man  to  use  tools  or  instruments  to  work  with. 
This  proves  that  whatever  may  be  subsequently  taught 
to  a  person,  he  always  possessed  a  direct  knowledge  at 
some  prior  period.  Whoever  might  object  to  such  a 
conclusion  could  not  escape  from  the  observation  of  oth- 
ers, that  he  was  controlled  by  some  motive  of  polity, 
rather  than  a  sincere  purpose  in  continuing  to  hold  to  the 
supremacy  of  indirect  knowledge. 

Spiritual  truth  is  common  property,  as  free  as  sun- 
light, but  polity  lurks  behind  the  necessary  principle  of 
government,  the  very  necessity  for  which  proves  that  man 
is  more  devoted  to  material  greed  than  any  just  recog- 
nition of  an  impartial  title  to  progressive  intelligence. 
Innocence  of  childhood  and  ignorance  of  literal  defence 
is  the  base  from  which  polity  is  the  most  effective  in  the 
dissembling  of  benevolence. 

Education,  the  pure  influence  of  spiritual  truth  and  im- 
partial sunlight,  is  imitated  with  the  most  brilliant  pre- 
tense to  attract  followers,  for  which  they  are  taxed  to 
contribute  to  the  betrayal  of  their  confidence.  Knowl- 
edge, intelligence,  virtue,  and  morality  are  directly  re- 
vealed, and  therefore  it  is  impossible  that  such  principles 
can  be  literally  transmitted  from  one  person  to  another. 
When  it  is  observed  that  virtue  is  silently  latent  in  the 
base  of  humanity,  while  vice  is  being  cultivated,  Chris- 
tianity will  have  an  opportunity  to  advance. 


338  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF  GROWTH. 


"pDUCATION  and  Evolution  are  embraced  in  the  prin- 
^  ciple  of  growth.  It  can  be  affirmed  or  denied  that 
knowledge,  virtue  and  morality  are  teachable  or  unteach- 
able  principles,  but  in  either  event  the  truth  would  not  be 
involved.  A  conceived  truth  and  an  "acquired  truth" 
cannot  be  embraced  except  by  the  quibble  of  terms.  A 
very  young  child  can  be  taught  that  acquired  truth  is 
equivalent  to  a  conceived  truth.  To  mislead  a  child, 
however,  to  serve  a  political  purpose,  is  equally  as  dis- 
honest as  the  capture  of  men  too  weak  to  defend  them- 
selves, and  compel  them  to  serve  their  captors,  which 
was  also  hidden  behind  the  screen  of  political  necessity. 

No  person  ever  committed  a  greater  crime  than  to  mis- 
lead the  innocent,  too  ignorant  to  offer  any  resistance. 
The  absence  of  intent  will  not  spare  the  child  any  more 
than  it  would  to  drop  it  from  a  precipice.  For  this  rea- 
son political  influence  should  be  carefully  examined  to 
prevent  being  an  unintentional  instrument  in  the  crippling 
of  children.  Indifference  or  a  careless  experimenting  is 
only  a  shade  removed  from  a  deliberate  act  of  depriving 
a  child  of  its  natural  right.  A  sentimental  controversy 
is  not  pertinent  to  a  subject  so  important;  for,  regard- 
less of  the  volume  of  acquired  knowledge  a  person  might 
have,  he  would  be  a  machine  in  practice  if  he  were  in- 
different to  the  welfare  of  the  child,  and  more  interested 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  339 

in  protecting  his  own  sentimental  convictions.  Results 
are  a  better  evidence  of  an  evil  than  sentimental  author- 
ity, however  prominent  the  source. 

Growth  implies  a  primary  condition  of  imperfection. 
Plants  grow,  man  grows,  nations  grow,  and  it  has  been 
universally  recognized  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
type  of  man  that  only  One  energy  or  force  is  employed 
in  growth,  in  whatever  form  it  is  perceived.  Political  man 
has  always  intervened  in  some  form  or  other  to  obstruct 
growth.  It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  his  career  from  a 
"medicine  man"  to  a  politician  of  the  modern  type.  The 
more  important  feature  is  to  inquire  into  his  being  a 
necessity.  If  he  had  always  been  a  full  grown  man  he 
was  as  necessarily  perfect  as  a  child's  imperfection  neces- 
sitates a  growth.  Results  show,  however,  that  he  was 
not  perfect,  but  needed  growth  as  well  as  the  child.  The 
polity  man  has  been  continually  condemned  from  unques- 
tioned proof  that  he  was  a  dissembler,  yet  he  continually 
appears  in  some  new  form  of  dress.  He  appears,  there- 
fore, to  be  a  mysterious  necessity.  From  a  philosophical 
standpoint  that  evil  is  a  necessity,  since  goodness  may 
be  a  goal  of  perfection  to  stimulate  growth,  the  polity 
man  could  be  classified  as  a  necessary  evil  to  warn  youth 
by  his  example  what  to  shun.  It  would  at  least  account 
for  one  method  of  growth,  and  treated  as  a  postulate 
even,  it  would  account  for  the  deceptive  character  of 
written  language,  which  has  always  been  more  or  less 
controlled  by  political  authority. 

Mechanical  tools  were  first  suggested  by  the  direct  em- 
pirical conception  of  progressive  intelligence.  Man  made 
a  club,  hammer,  and  also  literal  words,  since  which  period 
the  misuse  of  the  power  of  mechanism  and  the  acquired 
ability  to  distort  words  have  never  resulted  in  artificial 


340  THE   ECONOMY    OF    EDUCATION. 

instruments  ever  making  a  man,  or  a  single  thought.  Man 
is  more  than  an  artificial  product.  He  never  can  acquire 
enough  to  equal  the  conceived  knowledge  revealed  to  him 
at  birth.  Individual  man  has  no  occasion  to  ask  his  pre- 
decessors whether  it  is  true  that  *'God  made,  man  in  his 
own  image."  It  is  revealed  to  every  child  that  is  born, 
and  he  has  got  a  clear  title  to  the  knowledge  of  it.  Man 
could  reason  also,  previous  to  the  destruction  of  his  spir- 
itual mechanism,  and  the  artificial  substituting  of  indi- 
rect knowledge  in  place  of  the  direct,  equivalent  to  a 
cripple  being  compelled  to  use  crutches. 

Providing  a  person  believes  he  was  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  which  is  an  equal  privilege  to  disbelieve 
from  the  same  conception  of  thought,  it  could  be  realized 
that  God  never  uncreates.  If  the  touch  of  Spirit  is  rec- 
ognized by  experience  to  be  the  advent  of  a  thought,  the 
word  Man  and  God  relates  to  the  same  spiritual  prin- 
ciple, therefore  it  is  only  from  the  distortion  of  artificial' 
language  that  the  image  of  God  can  be  less  than  God. 
Political  man  never  organized  a  material  force  strong 
enough  to  compel  a  person  to  disbelieve  he  was  the  image 
of  God  after  once  believing  it.  The  very  language  that 
has  been  made  with  the  most  deliberate  purpose  to  teach 
the  superiority  of  artificial  man  over  the  natural  or  spir- 
itual, bears  testimony  that  a  corpse  is  only  the  dead  body 
of  the  man.  If  the  dissolution  between  Spirit  and  matter 
makes  it  necessary  to  name  all  that  was  visible  "a 
corpse"  which  was  previously  termed  "a  man,"  the  in- 
visible that  departed  must  have  been  the  man.  A  con- 
ceived thought  is  more  than  science  or  theology  ever  ana- 
lyzed or  psychology  ever  explained.  The  thought  itself 
is  the  ideal  vision  that  political  man  seeks  to  impress 
upon  the  plastic  mind  of  youth  that  he  was  born  in  debt 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  34I 

to  his  ancestry.  To  be  a  success,  however,  the  child  must 
be  carefully  watched  or  he  will  discover  he  can  make 
visions  equally  as  correct  as  his  ancestors. 

A  choice  of  action  is  a  visible  feature  of  human  exist- 
ence requiring  no  explanation,  since  experience  always 
corroborates  the  fact.  The  most  eloquent  phraseology  is 
an  empirical  example  of  the  impossibihty  of  convincing 
another  that  experience  was  not  an  individual  conception. 
It  makes  the  choice  between  direct  and  indirect  knowl- 
edge the  most  important  feature  that  a  person  has  to  con- 
sider. The  choice  of  Esau  was  a  privilege  that  no  per- 
son can  escape  from.  One  can  vacillate  between  the 
direct  and  indirect  and  exchange  apologies  with  another, 
trying  to  hide  an  error  behind  the  literal  sentiment  of  the 
imperfection  of  man.  If  the  visible  action  of  man  does 
not  suggest  that  a  complete  conviction  of  helpless  imper- 
fection in  his  own  right,  is  not  an  apology  for  every  evil 
act  he  commits,  a  proof  to  the  contrary  has  yet  to  appear. 
This  choice  relates  to  growth ;  for  the  reason  that  a  firm 
conviction  of  indirect  knowledge  transcending  empirical 
experience  establishes  a  limit  to  growth  at  that  point. 
Comfortable  enjoyment  may  not  be  denied  to  a  person 
who  chooses  the  acquiring  of  the  thoughts  of  others,  how- 
ever brilliant,  to  the  neglect  of  his  own. 

A  contempt  for  empirical  thoughts  betrays  a  person 
at  once,  regardless  of  his  volume  of  acquirements  in 
the  form  of  book  knowledge,  or  what  would  mean  the 
same — indirect  knowledge.  The  exclamation:  "We 
know  it!"  only  adds  to  the  readiness  of  man  to  betray 
his  egoism.  A  child  can  be  taught  not  to  think  by  con- 
stantly teaching  it  to  learn  the  thoughts  of  others,  and 
emulate  their  actions,  if  it  had  any  desire  to  be  a  visible 
success.     If  a  child's  success  in  life  depends  upon  polit- 


342  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

ical  control,  no  amount  of  philosophical  apology  for 
the  acts  of  man  could  prevent  social  suicide.  This  is 
not  a  new  idea,  but  as  old  as  Moses,  for  he  is  the  first 
man  recognized  in  history  as  having  courage  enough 
to  defy  political  authority,  and  exemplify  the  empirical 
character  of  man.  The  point  is,  that  vjsible  growth  is 
no  comparison  to  invisible  reality  that  is  strictly  con- 
fined to  experience. 

To  teach  a  child  obedience  to  God  is  a  psychological 
impossibility.  It  is  compelled  to  obey  God  from  birth 
until  the  organic  body  dissolves  partnership  with  Spirit, 
the  motor  power  from  which  every  inner  thought  is  con- 
ceived. The  fastidious  cannot  be  convinced  that  a 
child  is  born  a  perfect  man,  because  they  would  not  be 
fastidious  had  they  not  permitted  their  own  constructive 
organs  of  thought  to  decay  from  disuse.  A  person  who 
has  lost  his  primitive  ability  to  think,  can  form  no  idea 
of  an  original  thought  except  what  he  is  taught  to  be- 
lieve was  handed  down  from  his  predecessors  and  only 
acquired  by  political  proxy. 

A  man  may  continue  to  be  a  good  machine  after 
growing  to  a  state  of  perfection,  but  his  insisting  upon, 
making  everybody  as  perfect  as  himself,  God  will  not 
permit,  since  human  intelligence  is  progressive,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  animal  instinct  of  regularity,  and 
movement  of  a  machine  which  depends  upon  a  human 
operator.  To  obtain  a  growth  of  any  character,  pro- 
gressive intelligence  which  the  touch  of  Spirit  reveals 
to  individual  man,  is  forced  upon  him  rather  than  ac- 
quired by  him.  Science  and  philosophy  will  seek  in  vain 
to  find  any  other  entrance  to  heaven,  than  that  which 
the  touch  of  Spirit  reveals.  The  evolutionist  can  point 
to  material  growth  as  an  evidence  of  human  progress, 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  343 

but  when  his  end  in  view  is  to  prove  the  inequality  of 
man  and  his  dependence  upon  predecessors,  he  is  un- 
just to  himself  as  well  as  the  entire  human  race.  The 
child  is  just  as  much  exposed,  for  its  evil  actions  to  ex- 
ternal influences,  as  experience  is  upon  a  fall. 

The  effort  of  the  body  politic  to  overcome  natural 
man  or  the  child,  must  always  be  a  stern  chase  or 
growth  and  education  would  cease.  The  proof  is  sim- 
ple and  history  records  the  fact  that  progressive  intelli- 
gence was  spiritually  revealed  to  every  race  on  the  earth. 
It  is  more  than  any  man  or  body  of  men  has  accom-" 
plished.  To  dispute  it  would  not  prevent  the  growth 
that  is  only  possible  from  the  progressive  feature  of  in- 
telligence. It  would  take  a  lifetime  for  one  person  to 
enumerate  the  organized  effort  of  man  to  obstruct  the 
progressive  ambition,  that  was  forced  upon  entire  hu- 
manity at  birth.  The  action  of  man  is  the  limit  of  con- 
tention, the  main  feature  of  which  is  the  equitable  divi- 
sion of  labor  and  authority. 

The  persistent  effort  of  writers  to  prove  that  man  is 
controlled  by  external  influence  against  his  inner  con- 
ception, cannot  be  accomplished  until  it  can  be  ex- 
plained away,  that  the  lowest  type  of  humanitv  were  in 
possession  of  a  progressive  knowledge.  It  would  ap- 
pear from  the  different  schools  of  philosophy  that  the 
more  developed  a  man  becomes  the  less  he  is  willing 
to  recognize  that  life  is  God,  and  individual  man  is  co- 
existent which  entitles  him  to  a  recognition  of  being  a 
part  of  God  inasmuch  as  he  is  a  part  of  life.  It  is 
not  reasonable  for  an  objector  to  attempt  to  quibble 
over  the  relation  of  evil,  for  that  is  a  feature  of  man^s 
acts  which  are  a  necessity  to  growth  and  progress.    Be- 


344  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

sides,  evil  is  no  less  prominent  in  so-called  cultured  man 
than  the  uncultured. 

If  man  is  not  a  part  of  God  there  is  no  recorded 
proof  that  any  person  ever  revealed  to  another  what 
Spirit  revealed  to  man.  It  is  a  mere  subterfuge  of  lit- 
eral words  politically  prepared  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
torting them,  for  any  person  to  assume  a  specific  author- 
ity superseding  the  impartial  touch  of  Spirit  that  every 
unit  of  humanity  has  an  honest  title  to  and  proved 
by  the  organic  action  of  the  One  touch,  that  all  other 
pretended  authorities  in  comparison  have  been  political 
myths.  Attraction  is  the  first  principle  of  growth  and 
also  the  first  principle  of  evil.  Responsibility  is  always 
a  subsequent  feature  of  experience  and  when  external 
tuition  succeeds  in  controlling  the  inner  conception  of 
the  touch  of  Spirit  direct,  the  person  so  controlled  will 
cease  to  be  a  factor  of  human  growth  even  if  he  is  able 
to  commit  to  memory  the  entire  literature  of  the  world. 
It  concerns  the  private  judgment  of  the  individual, 
whether  he  will  be  led  by  the  policy  of  attractions,  or 
follow  the  promptings  of  the  inner  authority  which  can 
always  be  depended  upon  as  the  voice  of  God. 

The  institution  of  person  is  prior  to  any  political  in- 
stitution, or  gregarious  flocks,  that  were  ever  organ- 
ized on  earth;  besides  the  personal  institution  is  a  full 
grown  product  of  divine  origin,  while  collective  bodies 
are  of  artificial  structure,  both  temporal  and  subjective 
to  growth.  The  babe  is  better  protected  than  what  so- 
ciety or  the  state  can  overcome.  The  babe  is  a  spirit- 
ual proposition  against  the  material  attraction  of  so- 
ciety. The  polity  of  literal  authority  may  assert  to  the 
end  of  time  that  the  babe  is  dependent  for  its  growth 
upon  society,  but  the  assertion  to  be  true  should  be 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  345 

reversed  for  society  and  the  state  both  are  strictly  de- 
pendent upon  the  babe.  Society  obtains  all  its  virtue 
from  the  babe,  while  it  has  nothing  to  ofifer  in  exchange 
but  evil  attractions. 

The  very  privilege  to  think  is  a  universal  birthright, 
but  it  is  possible  and  also  obvious  from  general  obser- 
vation, that  a  person  can  be  artificially  taught  that  a 
product  commands  its  producer.  To  the  extent  that  ar- 
tificial attractions  can  control  the  thoughts,  to  the  same 
extent  natural  thoughts  will  be  viewed  with  contempt. 
Thus  in  the  paraphrase  of  literature  Nature  is  "vulgar'^ 
and  the  artificial  is  "refined."  Growth  permits  of  re- 
finement but  in  the  absence  of  honesty  and  natural  mo- 
rality, the  artificial  becomes  'Vulgar,''  while  the  natural 
remains  sublime. 

The  knowledge  that  determines  the  relation  of  Na- 
ture to  Art,  or  the  product  of  God  with  the  indirect 
product  of  man,  is  the  source  of  all  learning.  Hence 
when  the  rose  in  its  vanity  despises  its  root  and  with 
contempt  abandons  it,  decay  will  result,  except  for  a 
persistent  dependence  upon  art  to  strictly  exclude  Na- 
ture and  knowledge,  thus  mistaking  ignorance  for  suc- 
cess, and  passive  beauty  a  finality  in  exchange  for  knowl- 
edge and  progressive  intelligence,  which  could  only  be 
rediscovered  by  accepting  the  natural  again. 

The  really  beautiful  is  invisible  to  the  devotee  of  ex- 
ternal attraction.  The  two  principles  are  never  corre- 
lative, for  the  choice  of  either  as  predominant  will  ex- 
clude the  other.  One  might  as  well  attempt  to  paint 
the  sweetness  of  sugar,  or  the  song  of  a  bird,  as  to  trans- 
mit a  sense  of  the  beautiful.  A  correspondence  of  ex- 
periences, literally  conveyed,  is  the  nearest  approach  to 
a  sense  of  virtue  and  truth — the  sense  of  being — God — 


346  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

of  which  spirit,  every  living  thing  is  in  touch.  Growth 
is  an  improved  method  of  correspondence;  it  is  not  de- 
termined by  the  deflection  of  relative  words.  Things 
do  not  grow  at  the  command  of  man  either  individually 
or  collectively.  The  limit  of  man's  authority  is  to  ob- 
struct growth  by  contending  against  the  equity  of  dis- 
tribution. 

Science  discovers,  philosophy  demonstrates,  and  art 
executes,  but  growth  embracing  education  and  evolu- 
tion both,  is  a  result  derived  from  the  Divine  revela- 
tion of  progress,  bestowed  individually  upon  the  en- 
tire human  race,  which  experience  has  the  exclusive 
privilege  to  determine:  No  man  ever  knew  so  much 
but  what  experience  could  teach  him  some  more;  to 
admit  it,  however,  would  be  more  than  his  environ- 
ments could  compel  him  to  do.  Moral  courage  is  the 
highest  type  of  man,  regardless  of  species  or  artificial 
acquirements,  and  experience  is  the  sole  arbiter. 


THE  ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION.  347 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

THE  SAGACITY  OF  EDUCATION. 

'pHE  political  interposition  between  intuition  and  tui- 
-*■  tion  presents  the  particulars  of  dispute  between  phi- 
losophers and  scholars.  They,  as  a  body,  have  never 
reached  a  degree  of  concession  to  the  extent  even  of 
a  postulate,  that  intuition  was  a  common  revelation, 
over  which  tuition  has  no  legitimate  authority,  that  is, 
that  tuition  has  no  moral  authority  over  the  supreme 
conception  of  knowledge,  which  should  be  recognized  as 
God,  intuitively  revealed  to  every  unit  of  humanity. 
The  reason  that  the  power  to  act  and  the  act  itself  is  dis- 
tinct, is  because  a  revealed  power  does  not  include  a 
knowledge  of  the  consequences.  The  effort  to  instruct 
a  person  the  consequences  of  an  act  prior  to  the  act, 
would  be  absurd,  because  it  depends  upon  the  action  as 
positively  as  that  knowledge  is  revealed  to  a  child  from 
a  fall.  That  evil  consequence  can  be  determined  by  a 
person  of  more  experience  than  a  child,  will  not  justify 
the  authority  of  tuition  in  depriving  the  child  of  its  con- 
ceived revelation. 

The  polity  of  tuition  has  always  been  to  supersede  in- 
tuition. Its  temporal  success  has  .also  been  equally  as 
continuous  in  obstructing,  and  often  destroying  the  will 
of  the  child  to  the  extent  at  least  that  the  attractions  of 
tuition  gain  complete  control,  when  intuitive  reason 
would  be  forsaken  and    even    preachers,    teachers,  and 


348  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

philosophers  appear  sincere  in  holding  the  false  position 
that  tuition  supersedes  intuition.  To  point  out  the  mis- 
takes that  writers  make  in  treating  the  relation  of  tuition 
to  intuition,  or  direct  knowledge  compared  with  the  in- 
direct, would  be  to  impose  upon  human  intelligence  that 
is  as  absolute  as  God.  The  following  writers  dispute 
themselves  more  effectually  than  it  could  be  pointed  out. 
Besides,  if  any  person  could  not  see  it  without  it  being 
pointed  out  in  detail,  it  would  only  prove  that  such  a 
person  has  superseded  his  own  thoughts  by  accepting  the 
thoughts  of  others.  That  is,  if  a  person  sincerely  be- 
lieves that  tuition  transcends  intuition,  it  would  be  folly 
to  dispute  him,  yet  this  is  the  very  point  that  evolution- 
ists attempt  to  prove;  practically  that  experience  is  sub- 
ordinate to  objective  intelligence.  Happily,  however,  the 
proof  has  never  reached  a  stage  above  theory,  or  that 
the  letter  transcends  Spirit.  "The  letter  killeth,  but  the 
Spirit  giveth  life." 

Spencer,  Drummond,  Compayre,  Hopkins,  Sully,  Hal- 
lack,  and  G.  Standly  Hall  are  prominent  writers  of  text- 
books more  or  less  used  in  public  schools.  These  gen- 
tlemen hold  practically  the  same  general  position,  that 
the  child  is  subordinate  to  society,  with  the  supposition 
that  everybody  knows  what  the  word  "society"  relates 
to.  It  is  convenient,  however,  to  use  the  word  in  one 
sense  in  discussion,  and  still  another  in  teaching;  it 
merely  shows  the  treacherous  character  of  words,  and 
how  accommodating  they  are  to  reach  any  end  desired. 
The  only  exception  is  the  voice  of  God  in  correspond- 
ence with  the  voice  of  the  babe. 

Every  person  has  a  clear  title  to  determine  by  experi- 
ence whether  his  intuition  prompts  his  actions,  or  ex- 
ternal tuition.    Private  judgment  will  not  permit  of  one 


THE   ECONOMY   OF    EDUCATION.  349 

person  judging  another  upon  a  strictly  personal  privi- 
lege. It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  distinguish  between 
the  man  and  the  act  of  man,  since  in  the  absence  of  such 
distinction  no  correspondence  could  occur  between  man 
and  man.  To  be  explicit  upon  a  subject  so  important: 
The  correspondence  between  God  and  man  does  not  sig- 
nify an  act  of  man,  or  to  avoid  a  fastidious  objection,  a 
premeditated  act  is  not  involved  in  the  correspondence 
of  God  and  man.  There  is  not  a  single  thread  for  tui- 
tion to  rest  upon  without  disputing  this  sacred  principle. 

Correspondence  between  man  and  man  involves  pre- 
meditation of  action,  but  for  which,  progressive  intelli- 
gence would  be  a  blank.  That  this  apparent  imperfection 
between  man  and  man  does  not  correspond  with  the  per- 
fect correspondence  between  God  and  man,  is  accounted 
for  by  the  figurative  fall  of  the  child,  the  greatest  miracle 
that  God  ever  revealed  to  man,  the  consciousness  of  him- 
self, and  the  privilege  to  act  at  the  command  of  the  will. 
Experience  is  the  monitor  over  which  no  external  act  of 
an  object  has  any  moral  authority  whatever.  The  polity 
of  man  is  evidence  enough  that  the  acts  of  man  are  dis- 
tinct from  the  man  in  the  image  of  perfection. 

The  vagaries  of  words  will  account  for  a  multitude  of 
human  vagaries.  Impossible  words  of  a  polity  character 
signifying  enforced  obedience  are,  teach,  master,  and 
tyrant.  Learning  was  formally  defined  as  teaching,  but 
modern  etymologists  were  obliged  to  recognize  that  no 
person  could  possibly  learn  another  anything.  The  word 
^'teach"  in  the  sense  of  enforcement  is  just  as  obsolete  as 
when  it  was  applied  to  the  defining  of  learning,  for,  in 
the  light  of  such  words  as  education,  preaching  and  ex- 
ample, "to  teach  a  child"  or  attempt  to  "learn  a  child" 
are  equally  significant  in  the  effort  to  overcome  intuition 


350  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

by  the  political  invention  of  tuition,  or  a  system  of  edu- 
cation for  the  purpose  of  instructing  a  child  to  abandon 
its  correspondence  with  its  Creator,  and  recognize  an 
allegiance  to  political  authority.  From  a  moral  stand- 
point it  would  be  impossible  for  political  influence  to 
have  any  authority  over  the  child,  but  visible  results  are 
better  evidence  than  philosophical  ideals  that  depend 
upon  versatile  words. 

Education  proper  is  virtue  itself;  it  suggests  growth 
and  evolution,  but  when  a  person  can  believe  that  a  child 
can  be  taught  to  think  and  then  taught  what  to  think,  it 
presents  a  contradiction  of  terms  that  a  person  making 
them  gives  evidence  that  he  knows  what  to  think,  but 
how  to  think  has  escaped  his  memory.  The  impossibil- 
ity of  compelling  a  plant  or  child  to  grow  forms  the  base 
of  study  for  a  sincere  person  to  exercise  his  thoughts 
upon  and  determine  for  himself  whether  he  was  think- 
ing intuitively  or  tuitively.  If  a  person  recognizes  that 
neither  a  child  or  plant  can  be  compelled  to  grow,  the 
political  effort  in  seeking  to  compel  a  child  to  grow  sug- 
gests the  thought  that  the  effort  is  disguised  for  some 
motive,  and  if  the  effort  is  to  enforce  an  action,  it  must 
result  in  obstructing  the  action,  inasmuch  as  to  compel 
a  child  to  do  what  it  is  perfectly  willing  to  do.  It  is  only 
to  such  teachers  as  feel  a  sense  of  moral  obligation,  that 
the  petition  of  a  child  api>eals,  since  a  fastidious  teacher 
will  not  give  his  attention  to  anything  but  his  own  crys- 
talized  convictions.  The  political  usurpation  of  secular 
education  has  for  its  end  the  supplanting  of  domesticity 
and  the  substitution  of  state  authority  in  its  place. 

If  results  have  not  reached  a  point  of  serious  observa- 
tion, conditions  are  rapidly  moving  in  that  direction.  A 
plant  even  can  be  prevented  from  growing,  but  to  com- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  35 1 

pel  it  to  grow  is  impossible,  and  if  a  child  is  born  with  a 
progressive  intelligence,  any  act  of  political  compulsion 
can  mean  no  less  than  impairment,  if  not  a  complete  des- 
truction of  the  progressive  feature  of  human  intelligence. 
The  phenomenal  success  of  Christianity  over  any  other 
religion  preceding  it,  was  due  to  the  preaching  and  exem- 
plification of  Christ.  The  spirtual  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures  needs  no  quibbling  over  the  words,  "preach- 
ing and  teaching,"  since  the  main  feature  is,  there  are 
neither  polities  or  compulsion  connected  with  Christi- 
anity proper.  The  political  effort  to  compel  people  to 
become  Christians  was  a  failure,  simply  because  man  in 
spiritual  correspondence  with  God,  always  transcends 
man  in  his  material  correspondence.  An  act  being  neces- 
sary to  reveal  the  consciousness  of  the  will  and  prior 
to  it,  the  responsibility  is  in  the  act  rather  than  the  man. 

From  a  compulsory  point  of  view,  what  reason  can 
the  supporters  of  political  effort  in  connection  with  edu- 
cation, justify  the  use  of  force,  when  it  has  always 
proved  to  be  a  failure  in  religious  matters?  That  it  is 
impossible  to  teach,  when  it  is  considered  as  a  force, 
does  not  prevent  the  polity  in  attempting  to  do  it.  That 
this  effort  obstructs  growth  may  be  denied  or  affirmed; 
in  either  case  results  will  assert  themselves,  but  if  re- 
sults were  anticipated  economically,  it  would  at  least 
spare  the  child  from  being  the  victim  of  experiment. 

There  is  no  circumstance  in  life  more  unfortunate 
than  cultivated  egoism,  it  betrays  itself  in  an  attractive 
effort  to  hide  it ;  it  differs  with  empiricism  in  being  intu- 
tively  acquired,  while  empiricism  is  natural  intuition.  A 
school  teacher  can  be  a  victim  of  policy  and  so  methodi- 
cally trained,  as  to  be  irresponsible  for  the  present  ab- 
stract system  of  education.    A  machine  strictness  to  the 


352  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

exact  letter  of  authority  is  a  disregard  for  the  sanctity 
of  education.  The  private  judgment  of  a  school  teacher 
is  just  as  much  a  personality  as  any  person  who  has 
legal  authority  over  a  teacher's  methods.  It  is  to  the 
moral  sense  that  personal  judgment  appeals  rather  than 
any  obligation  to  political  authority.  It  might  be  a  ques- 
tion in  a  teacher's  mind  whether  political  authority  was 
exercised  over  public  schools  or  not,  or  whether  politi- 
cal officials  exercised  any  moral  obligation  in  view  of 
their  legal  authority.  When  the  private  judgment  of  a 
teacher  reaches  a  conclusion,  the  child's  cross-question- 
ing is  to  be  encountered,  and  when  it  is  forbidden  to 
ask  questions,  what  the  child  thinks  about  it  in  silence  is 
a  private  judgment  also. 

The  distinction  between  polity  teaching  and  the  sanc- 
tity of  education  is  a  self  conviction  that  betrays  the  in- 
congruity to  a  child.  The  word  teach  implies  the  power 
to  impart  knowledge  which  the  child  will  constantly  in- 
sist upon  disputing  until  it  is  so  thoroughly  taught  to 
stop  thinking  about  anything  except  what  it  was  taught 
to  think,  when  the  will  is  practically  subdued  or  broken 
and  the  child  is  declared  to  be  a  modem  success.  The 
distortion  of  words  to  promote  a  desired  end,  which  is 
more  political  than  a  sincere  purpose  to  improve  the 
child,  is  evident  when  the  words  "teach"  and  ''educa- 
tion" are  defined  and  explained  to  the  confidential  child. 
In  moral  truthfulness  no  teacher  other  than  the  mere 
echo  of  text  books,  and  thus  exhibiting  himself  as  an 
educated  machine,  could  advance  any  other  apology  for 
obstructing  the  growth  of  a  child,  than  the  fact  that  he 
did  not  know  any  better. 

When  a  teacher  defines  his  own  calling  as  "imparting 
knowledge"  and  then  denies  it  by  calling  himself  an  edu- 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  353 

cator,  when  he  was  compelled  from  his  knowledge  of 
books  to  explain  to  a  child  that  he  was  "leading  knowl- 
edge forth,"  such  an  incongruity  of  terms  could  scarcely 
escape  his  notice,  even  if  he  had  only  a  touch  of  logical 
sense.  In  mechanical  parlance  it  would  be  termed  a 
"dead  center,"  for  when  two  objects  meet  of  equal  force, 
the  result  would  be  two  objects  at  rest.  If  the  teacher, 
however,  as  such,  was  more  forceful  than  he  was  as  an 
educator,  he  might  "impart"  more  than  was  "led  forth." 
It  would  be  a  chance  in  favor  of  the  child,  to  develop  his 
own  natural  intelligence. 

To  explain  this  incongruity  as  a  political  necessity,  on 
the  ground  of  the  ignorance  of  both  parent  and  child, 
for  fear  they  would  become  a  "menace  to  society"  would 
change  the  situation  to  one  of  morality,  and  if  a  single 
person  felt  that  the  protection  of  society  was  more  im- 
portant than  moral  obligaions,  it  would  prove  that  the 
end  jusified  the  means,  and  innocent  children  must  be 
sacrificed  for  fear  they  would  learn  the  polity  of  evil  for 
which  their  predecessors  were  more  remarkable,  than 
for  moral  obligations.  The  Truth  is  a  principle  both 
simple  and  searching,  it  requires  no  volume  of  learning 
to  discover  it  in  comparison  to  the  vast  amount  needed 
to  escape  from  it.  When  a  person  is  convinced  that  pos- 
terity is  in  debt  to  its  ancestors  for  a  knowledge  of 
Truth,  it  would  be  idle  to  dispute  him;  he  gives  distinct 
evidence  that  he  has  no  comprehension  of  a  universal 
revelation  of  progressive  intelligence.  It  is  only  the  semi- 
educated  on  lines  of  polity  that  could  sincerely  hold  such 
a  narrow  view  of  education. 

Education  would  be  impossible  but  for  the  intuitive 
inspiration  to  obtain  it.  The  child  begins  to  learn  as  soon 
as  it  becomes  conscious,  and  political  effort  is  equally 


354  THE   ECONOMY  OF   EDUCATION. 

prompt  to  deprive  it  of  the  opportunity  to  learn.  Ex- 
perience being  the  very  essence  of  learning,  and  no  man 
ever  discovered  a  method  of  teaching  experience  to  an 
adult  man,  and  much  less  to  a  child.  It  follows  that  po- 
litical effort  is  more  concerned  in  obstructing  the  natu- 
ral intelligence  of  the  child  than  promoting  it.  The 
child  learns  to  creep  and  also  to  walk,  which  no  amount 
of  instruction  could  teach  it  to  do,  yet  wisdom  would  or 
the  pretence  of  it,  distort  the  relative  character  of  words 
and  seek  to  convince  the  child  as  soon  as  it  could  com- 
prehend words  that  its  inner  intelligenc  was  imparted 
to  it  by  external  objects. 

The  educator  who  would  also  claim  he  was  a  teacher, 
stands,  according  to  the  relation  of  words,  as  either  a 
dissembler  or  that  he  does  not  know  the  difference  be- 
tween a  teacher  and  an  educator,  thus  admitting  in  the 
presence  of  educated  man  that  he  was  neither  an  edu- 
cator or  a  teacher. 

Education  and  teaching  are  in  constant  dispute,  rep- 
resenting the  activity  of  life  as  between  good  and  evil — 
truth  and  theory — virtue  and  vice — moral  conduct  and 
base  conduct,  also  the  most  important  difference  is  be- 
tween direct  revelation  and  indirect.  Education  repre- 
sents all  that  is  true,  because  it  recognizes  the  inner  in- 
telligence; it  does  not  assume  to  impart  knowledge,  but 
admits  without  quibble  that  the  word  education  signifies 
"to  lead  forth."  Now  the  duplicity  of  definitions  can  be 
observed  in  trying  to  give  it  imparting  qualities  also,  but 
like  a  horse  that  can  pull  and  back,  it  is  never  pulling 
when  it  is  backing. 

As  a  distinction  of  motive  or  end  in  view,  education 
has  a  moral  influence  for  the  good  of  the  child.  While 
teaching  is  directed  by    polity  with    an  end   in  view  of 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  355 

apologizing  for  evil  as  a  necessity,  while  it  tries  to  be- 
come the  equal  of  God  in  imparting  knowledge,  by  an 
eloquent  display  of  material  effort,  trying  to  explain 
how  morality  can.be  brushed  away  as  an  intruder  upon 
the  pleasures  of  life.  The  principle  of  teaching  is  more 
directly  in  competition  with  education  by  an  ideal  com- 
parison of  attraction  that  deceives  the  credulous;  for 
teaching  in  its  strict  sense  is  like  theories  that  illuminate 
the  desires  and  expectations,  that  education  always  dem- 
onstrates to  be  false.  Because  polity  must  be  conserva- 
tive for  self-preservation,  is  no  reason  why  moral  cour- 
age should  not  dispute  its  passiveness  with  David  sim- 
plicity. Polity  is  always  ready  to  make  war  against 
progress.  Timorous  people  also  are  conserved  with 
fear,  but  the  one  principle  that  is  revealed  to  entire  hu- 
manity is  the  sense  of  progress.  Relative  words  are  the 
product  of  knowledge,  however  much  the  ability  of  man 
is  able  to  distort  them  in  the  interest  of  polity  to  obstruct 
the  very  principle  that  it  pretends  to  impart. 

The  one  opponent  of  polity  is  empiricism,  a  principle 
that  can  only  be  obstructed  from  a  pretended  apotheosis 
of  man,  in  declaring  his  ability  to  impart  knowledge.  No 
person  can  escape  from  the  observation  of  his  surround- 
ings. ''By  their  fruit  ye  shall  know  them."  No  one  can 
impart  to  another  a  sense  of  moral  duty,  or  impart  a 
method  of  escape  from  punishment,  by  the  mere  distor- 
tion of  relative  words,  for  the  necessary  ability  to  dis- 
tort words  is  an  admission  that  the  distorter  is  seeking 
to  disguise  evil  in  the  dress  of  goodness.  To  attempt  to 
hide  behind  polity  betrays  the  effort  to  hide  something. 
A  great  many  examples  could  be  shown,  but  literature 
is  crowded  with  them  already.  Example,  influence,  and 
practice  are  the  main  features  of  education,  and  moral 


356  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

obligations  are  as  personal  as  responsibility  which  the 
nascent  perception  of  a  child  cannot  be  entirely  pre- 
vented from  observing.  An  obedient  "citizen"  will  never 
be  evolved  by  the  distortion  of  words,  with  an  apparent 
purpose  of  polity  and  dogmatic  discussion. 

Human  progress  is  a  better  evidence  that  direct 
knowledge  is  the  very  touch  of  God  revealed  at  birth, 
than  any  books  that  were  ever  printed.  It  should  never 
be  carelessly  brushed  aside  that  the  act  is  not  the  Power 
to  act,  and  every  child  that  is  born  is  a  redeemer  of  the 
sins  of  its  predecessors.  To  deny  this  is  to  deny  the 
Spirit  of  the  Bible,  and  stand  convicted  in  a  personal 
presence,  that  no  one  can  escape  from. 


CHAPTER  XLH. 

REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT. 

p  OVERNMENT  proper  is  protective  and  any  feature 
^  of  instruction  is  a  usurpation  of  authority,  or  any 
instruction  that  supersedes  that  of  the  parent.  This  is  not 
a  theory  or  doctrine,  but  a  moral  right  directly  revealed 
by  the  sense  of  love  for  offspring.  No  other  person  can 
possibly  feel  the  interest  in  posterity  that  the  parent 
feels.  From  the  most  primitive  form  of  government  it 
no  sooner  possessed  the  power  by  uniting  a  collective 
body  for  the  purpose  of  protection,  than  the  chief  or  a 
coterie  of  persons  acting  the  ruler  has  appropriated  a 
greater  benefit  to  themselves  than  was  possible  for  the 
whole. 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  35/ 

The  history  of  slavery,  mythology,  the  feudal  system, 
and  the  divine  right  of  kings,  are  matters  of  history 
showing  distinctly,  that  except  for  the  protection  of  off- 
spring by  the  parent,  the  greed  of  man  would  have  de- 
stroyed the  human  race  before  the  Christian  era  had 
been  reached.  It  also  shows  that  whatever  apologies 
have  been  advanced  for  the  conduct  of  our  ancestry,  no 
government  has  ever  existed  in  such  perfect  correspond- 
ence with  the  government  of  God  as  the  innocent  babe. 

In  proportion  to  a  more  general  distribution  of  literal 
education  and  recognition  of  personal  freedom,  slavery 
and  tyranny  are  becoming  modified.  It  should  be  no- 
ticed however,  that  becoming  better  and  being  better 
presents  an  indefinite  difference  between  the  two  princi- 
ples. Because  education  is  the  prime  factor  of  progress 
and  civilization,  it  will  not  justify  a  collective  body  in 
seeking  to  control  such  a  universal  privilege.  The 
effort  to  control  education  reflects  an  object  of  obstruct- 
ing the  general  principle.  Because  parents  can  be  misled 
by  reason  of  their  anxiety  for  the  future  welfare  of  their 
children,  shows  conclusively  that  any  collective  body  in- 
sisting upon  it,  has  a  motive  other  than  their  welfare. 
Even  if  a  person  sincerely  believes  that  enforced  instruc- 
tion is  necessary  for  well-being  of  the  child,  it  must  be 
believed  in  disregard  of  the  past,  and  the  conspicuous 
results,  that  are  constantly  developing.  A  few  abstracts 
from  such  a  general  principle  as  education  embraces, 
will  not  apologize  for  the  multitude  of  disappointments 
due  to  the  misleading  instruction  forced  upon  the  plastic 
brain  of  youth. 

From  a  standpoint  of  moral  equity  every  person  is  a 
miniature  government,  that  precedes  any  artificial  form 
that  was  ever  instituted.    The  Golden  Rule,  followed  by 


35^  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  American  Col- 
onies recognized  the  empirical  fact  that  personality  was 
a  sacred  institution,  but  the  relation  of  dominant  inter- 
ests was  just  as  much  a  factor  of  one  form  of  govern- 
ment as  another.  The  perfidy  of  man  is  not  in  equity 
chargeable  to  the  innocence  of  the  babe,  or  the  fact  that 
he  must  be  an  integral  institution,  in  no  sense  obligated 
to  any  collective  body,  any  more  than  each  of  its  constit- 
uent parts.  Freedom  of  movement  is  just  as  essential 
as  birth;  the  babe  has  no  choice  prior  to  the  conscious- 
ness derived  from  a  fall.  It  has  no  protection  from  be- 
coming a  victim  of  dominant  interests,  except  for  the 
natural  protection  of  the  parent. 

A  collective  body  declaring  itself  to  be  a  Representa- 
tive Government,  has  no  moral  right  to  assume  the  in- 
struction of  children  by  pretending  it  to  be  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  child,  when  dominant  interests  are  the  sole 
purpose.  If  such  purpose  is  not  a  fact,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  dominant  interests  are  treated  as  more  im- 
portant to  be  preserved  than  the  moral  integrity  of  the 
child.'  Allowing  the  child  to  be  wholly  to  blame  for 
struggling  to  exist,  what  proof  is  there  that  he  is  proven 
by  the  instructions  of  his  predecessors  ?  Unless  the  child 
is  thoroughly  trained  to  accept  the  example  of  his  pred- 
ecessors as  a  necessity  to  a  respectable  existence,  he 
must  observe  the  inconsistency  of  collective  bodies  as- 
suming to  be  exempt  from  moral  obligations,  simply 
because  they  were  a  collective  power. 

The  coalescense  of  polity  with  moral  integrity  has 
never  been  remarkable  for  permanent  success.  It  should 
at  least  attract  attention,  and  if  a  remedy  cannot  be  im- 
mediately successful,  the  individual  relation  to  a  Rep- 
resentative Government  is  always  a  personal  presence. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  359 

The  person  is  yet  to  be  born  that  can  be  justly  held  re- 
sponsible for  an  act  over  which  he  has  no  authority.  It 
was  simple  under  a  theocratic  form  of  government  to 
justify  the  subjugation  of  the  entire  people  of  a  nation, 
but  to  imitate  the  authority  of  theocracy  and  seek  to  main- 
tain it  by  enforced  instruction  in  the  public  schools,  is 
an  effort  to  conserve  the  exclusive  advantage  from  an 
indifference  to  God's  power,  rather  than  an  honest  effort 
to  patronize  it  on  the  ground  that  God  is  responsible  for 
political  acts. 

All  governments  are  and  always  have  been  controlled 
by  polity,  the  ultra  learned  being  the  ruling  power. 
Whatever  name  is  applied  to  a  government  does  not 
change  the  disposition  of  men  in  authority  to  oppress  the 
weak  and  patronize  the  strong.  Philosophers  and  writ- 
ers of  every  character  have  tried  to  apologize  for  cul- 
tured vice  by  charging  it  to  depraved  innocence.  It  is 
yet  a  complexed  question  to  determine  how  the  multi- 
tude can  be  kept  in  ignorance  of  their  personality  which 
was  revealed  to  each,  by  the  same  "breath  of  life"  that 
all  depended  upon.  Since  the  Israelites  demonstrated 
the  possibility  of  popular  freedom  in  opposition  to  po- 
litical power,  every  government  that  has  existed  since 
has  used  its  entire  force  to  suppress  any  form  of  edu- 
cation that  recognized  or  suggested  a  common  inheri- 
tance to  the  bounties  of  Nature,  The  effort  to  force 
education  upon  the  common  people  after  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  have  contended  for  thousands  of  years  to 
prevent  it,  shows  conclusively  that  the  people  were  al- 
ways willing  to  be  educated,  and  there  must  be  some  po- 
litical motive  in  using  force  to  impart  to  the  common 
people  what  they  have  been  fighting  for  years  to  obtain. 

It  is  analogous  to  the  Roman    Empire   trying  to  pre- 


360  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

serve  its  political  power  by  recognizing  the  Christians, 
after  they  had  persisted  in  exercising  a  common  freedom 
in  face  of  persecution  for  three  hundred  years.  The  ef- 
fort of  the  Empire  to  thrust  itself  between  the  Christians 
and  God  was  a  failure  of  their  political  power,  and  an- 
other victory  for  popular  freedom.  Freedom,  Chris- 
tianity, Democracy  and  Education  are  all  related  to  a 
common  principle  against  which  political  power  is  just 
as  antagonistic  as  Pharaoh  was  in  trying  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  the  Israelites. 

If  this  is  not  an  analogous  comparison,  what  apology 
has  the  present  political  power  to  offer  against  its  effort 
to  thrust  itself  between  the  natural  desire  for  an  educa- 
tion, and  the  inspired  privilege  revealed  to  every  human 
being?  If  experience  does  not  reveal  this  principle,  then 
the  "breath  of  life"  was  breathed  into  the  body  of  man  in 
vain.  There  is  no  difference  between  a  so-called  demo- 
cratic form  of  government  and  a  Theocracy  when  a  po- 
litical power  is  equally  as  able  to  subjugate  the  common 
people  in  either  case.  A  political  effort  to  explain  that 
the  people  rule,  would  be  a  misnomer,  for  if  the  people 
ruled  it  would  be  no  political  concern  to  explain  it. 

In  a  spiritual  sense  the  people  always  rule,  subject 
only  to  the  government  of  God,  but  in  a  political  sense 
only  a  small  part  of  the  people  rule  the  whole,  for  the 
sole  benefit  of  the  part  that  rules,  which  part  is  called 
representative.  Hence  if  a  Representative  Government  is 
the  acme  of  governing  principle,  it  would  still  remain  to 
be  explained  what  the  relation  is  between  a  political  gov- 
ernment and  the  government  of  God.  Since  secular  edu- 
cation has  become  divorced  from  religion,  or  to  the  ex- 
tent that  polity  can  control  the  situation,  moral  govern- 
ment is  more  conspicuous    among  the    so-called  "lower 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  361 

type"  of  humanity.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the 
"survival  of  the  fittest"  would  be  those  who  were  the 
least  fitted  by  political  authority. 

It  seems  to  escape  the  observation  of  political  and  so- 
cial writers  that  there  is  a  government  above  political 
control.  The  enthusiast  devoted  to  secular  education, 
should  study  the  situation  carefully,  for  there  has  been 
no  parallel  in  history  when  a  political  government  aban- 
doned religious  education,  and  adopted  a  secular  form, 
not  but  what  secular  education  can  be  moral  also,  but 
the  desperate  strait  that  political  power  is  put  to  by  not 
being  able  to  control'  religious  education,  is  becoming  too 
obvious  to  escape  notice  altogether.  The  period  of  the 
Renaissance  might  be  cited  as  a  parallel  to  the  present 
rage  for  secular  education,  but  it  offers  no  encourage- 
ment from  a  moral  point  of  view.  The  present  similar- 
ity to  the  Renaissance  relates  more  to  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom than  any  justification  of  political  authority  in  trying 
to  hide  its  duplicity  in  forcing  the  natural  desire  for  edu- 
cation to  a  degree  of  expectation,  that  something  can  be 
obtained  for  nothing.  It  presents  such  an  incongruity 
of  forcing  secular  education  upon  the  common  people  as 
an  indirect  method  of  counteracting  the  freedom  of  re- 
-ligion,  which  political  power  cannot  reach  by  reason  of 
the  Federal  Constitution. 

The  situation  appeals  more  to  the  individual  than  to 
educational  institutions,  as  each  have  a  polity  of  compe- 
tition, by  reason  of  a  license  that  is  legally  withheld  from 
the  public  school.  That  is,  the  freedom  of  religion  is 
excluded  from  the  public  schools  except  the  individual 
privilege  of  moral  example  at  the  option  of  a  teacher. 
That  secular  education  has  no  remarkable  record  for 
promoting  moral  obligations,  there  must  be  some  hidden 


362  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

reason  for  the  political  interest  in  compulsory  secular 
education  regardless  of  its  conflict  with  religious  liberty. 
The  spirit  of  freedom  is  very  progressive,  however,  but 
it  has  never  been  included  in  political  aggrandizement. 

Man  received  the  "breath  of  life"  directly,  there  was 
no  mediator  or  representative  to  convey  the  title  to  ex- 
istence. The  babe  scarcely  learns  to  breathe  success- 
fully before  he  falls  into  a  condition  of  consciousness. 
It  represents  the  obstruction  between  the  first  respira- 
tion and  the  last.  A  representative  between  the  babe 
and  its  Creator  frequently  insists,  for  the  welfare  of  the 
babe,  that  its  first  respiration  shall  also  be  its  last. 
While  it  establishes  the  possibility  of  a  mediator  be- 
tween the  babe's  clear  title  to  exist,  and  its  so  called 
environments,  it  is  a  weak  argument  to  attempt  to  jus- 
tify the  necessity  of  a  representative  in  behalf  of  a  babe, 
when  it  is  inspired  with  a  pre-requisite  to  a  continued 
existence;  while  the  limit  of  surrounding  objects,  in- 
cluding any  mediator  or  representative,  is  to  deprive  him 
of  it.  The  point  is,  a  representative  can  destroy  the 
life  of  a  babe,  but  cannot  restore  it  or  convey  it.  Al- 
lowing a  mediator  can  assist  the  babe  to  preserve  its 
own  existence,  the  position  of  a  mediator  is  negative,  in 
seeking  to  prove  the  dependence  of  the  babe  upon  sub- 
authority  after  its  direct  communion  with  God  is  such 
a  self-evident  fact. 

There  is  no  moral  ground  for  a  representative  author- 
ity to  stand  upon  between  the  babe  and  its  Creator.  This 
being  recognized  by  a  personal  presence  necessary  to 
deny  it,  equivalent  to  a  person  refusing  to  admit  that  he 
existed  while  he  was  able  to  deny  it.  From  this  stand- 
point representative  bodies  in  the  earlier  days  of  civil- 
ized growth  could  be  considered:     They  first  assumed 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  363 

to  be  acting  by  Divine  appointment,  when  every  man, 
woman  and  child  were  subjugated  by  the  mere  power 
to  do  it.  No  apology  for  such  representation  can  be 
offered,  for  the  ability  to  do  it  was  a  self  conviction 
that  they  knew  it  to  be  a  fraud. 

Ignorance  is  a  virtue,  in  comparison  to  the  justifica- 
tion of  vice  and  the  subjugation  of  the  weak,  that  mod- 
ern evolutionists  try  to  apologize  for  in  the  interest  of 
science  and  progress.  If  any  persons  believe  they  were 
improved  by  subjugation,  or  that  they  were  specifically 
privileged  to  improve  others,  it  would  have  been  less 
unfortunate  if  their  first  breath  of  life  had  also  been 
their  last.  A  sincere  attachment  to  prerogatives  proves 
what  is  possible  to  be  forced  upon  a  child  in  the  name 
of  improvement,  and  how  completely  it  can  become 
subjugated  by  the  political  enforcement  of  abstract  ed- 
ucation, to  the  extent  also  of  convincing  the  child  that 
it  might  have  been  a  criminal  if  it  had  been  permitted 
to  exercise  the  natural  intelligence  that  was  breathed 
into  its  body  at  birth  by  a  common  Creator.  Fastidious 
people  are  prone  to  ask:  Would  you  permit  a  child  to 
grow  up  without  education?  It  would  be  more  difficult 
to  prevent  a  child  from  being  educated,  than  to  attract 
it  by  false  promises  that  lie  at  the  bottom  of  all  represen- 
tations prompted  by  polity. 

Education  proper  is  equally  as  defensive  as  aggres- 
sion, for  that  reason  education  should  be  equally  as 
free  as  religion.  It  is  the  political  perfidy  that  usurps 
the  control  of  the  one  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  in 
the  name  of  democracy,  and  not  unusual  to  defend  the 
principle  in  the  name  of  Christianity,  the  incongruity 
of  which  should  be  apparent.  Religion  and  education 
relate  to  sublime  principles  that  were  directly  revealed 


364  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

to  human  consciousness  in  common.  It  is  a  matter  of 
history  that  reHgion  and  some  form  of  education  was 
employed  to  awe  the  innocent  and  credulous  into  a  state 
of  subjection.  It  is  not  the  present  purpose  to  dispute 
the  necessity  of  some  system  of  subjugation,  for  it  is 
common  knowledge  that  every  person  that  is  bom  must 
come  in  contact  with  some  object  before  he  could  be- 
come conscious  of  any  subjugation  even.  This  contact 
was  construed  by  the  ancient  scribes  as  a  "fall  from 
paradise."  It  accounts  for  a  great  volume  of  mystery 
that  the  ancients  were  famous  for.  It  accounts  also 
for  a  government  by  proxy  or  a  Representative  Govern- 
ment which  is  practically  the  same.  It  at  least  has  the 
same  object  in  view,  but  the  present  method  is  radically 
different,  for  the  ancient  representative  of  the  populace 
made  it  a  study  to  suppress  education.  At  the  present 
time  when  it  would  be  folly  to  suppress  education,  the 
political  effort  is  to  control  its  ethical  feature,  to  the 
extent  that  the  obligation  to  the  State  should  supersede 
moral  obligations.  The  feature  of  subjugation  is  just 
as  much  a  present  motive  as  it  ever  was  in  the  past, 
but  it  is  so  sugar-coated  with  attraction,  that  the  men- 
tal wrecks  will  persist  in  believing  that  compulsory  edu- 
cation is  civilizing  the  world. 

Morality  and  freedom  are  principles  that  diplomacy 
and  polity  will  not  subdue  in  the  present  age  of  reading, 
and  however  careful  text  books  are  prepared  to  convince 
the  populace  that  a  Representative  Government  can  so 
voice  the  entire  people  as  to  make  them  all  believe  that 
it  is  a  Democracy  because  it  can  be  represented  as  such, 
and  taught  to  credulous  innocence  that  it  is  a  fact. 

It  is  an  imposition  upon  mere  natural  intelligence  for 
the  advocate  of  a  Representative  Government  to  claim 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  365 

the  people  rule,  which  is  a  mere  sentiment  for  the  reason 
that  all  institute  bodies  are  more  devoted  to  their  own 
specific  benefit  than  they  are  to  recognize  a  remote  pos- 
sibility that  the  populace  will  ever  rule  when  the  "laborer 
would  be  worthy  of  his  hire."  It  is  the  very  point,  that 
representatives  and  mediators  always  insist  upon,  that 
youth  must  be  so  trained  that  he  will  never  be  compe- 
tent to  represent  himself.  The  attractions  of  repre- 
sentations and  public  notoriety  are  made  so  brilliant  in 
comparison  to  honest  obscurity,  it  would  appear  that  the 
government  of  God  would  be  subdued  by  modem  polity, 
but  the  man  must  be  severely  intoxicated  with  modem- 
ism  to  believe  it.  Representative  bodies  cannot  hide 
the  incongruity  of  being  a  law  to  themselves,  and  decree 
penalties  to  those  they  claim  to  represent,  for  acts,  of 
which  they  exempt  themselves  from  liability. 

That  representatives  are  no  more  than  human,  needs 
no  comment,  but  it  will  be  remote  when  the  people  rule 
politically  to  the  extent  they  rule  spiritually,  if  youth 
can  be  taught  to  aspire  to  become  a  representaive  man 
and  command  those  he  pretends  to  represent. 

The  history  of  chattel  slavery  that  was  politically  en- 
forced shows  the  relation  of  the  representative  man  to 
the  man  represented.  The  people  will  rule  when  they 
have  the  courage,  the  fugitive  slave  had,  by  liberating 
himself  individually,  for  the  person  has  yet  to  be  bom 
that  can  be  subjugated  without  personal  consent,  ex- 
cept he  is  first  deprived  of  his  birthright.  That  is,  if 
the  modern  form  of  slavery  is  a  moral  virtue,  freedom 
is  a  crime,  empaling  the  freedom  of  religion  by  the 
polity  of  compulsory  education. 


366  THE  ECONOMY  OF  EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

PROGRESSIVE  INTELLIGENCE. 

EVERY  blade  of  grass  and  every  living  thing  reaches 
out  to  whatever  offers  the  greatest  attraction.  Intelli- 
gence is  an  individual  principle,  as  much  so  as  the 
breath  of  life.  In  animal  life  it  is  limited  to  a  strict 
uniformity  confined  to  species,  no  progressive  improve- 
ment in  the  obtaining  of  food  is  noticeable,  yet  the  in- 
tuition of  attraction  is  a  common  inspiration;  in  the 
absence  of  which  no  external  object  can  impart  this 
principle,  in  the  sense  that  food  is  the  object  of  attrac- 
tion since  the  limit  of  food  is  to  sustain  the  continuity 
of  life,  it  having  no  power  to  establish  it.  It  has  always 
been  the  effort  of  philosophers  to  deny  the  individuality 
of  life  and  prove  its  subjective  dependence  upon  the 
polity  of  its  collective  surroundings. 

The  inspiration  to  progress  is  a  universal  privilege 
which  is  determined  by  the  individual  experience  of  con- 
sciousness. The  communion  of  Spirit  revealed  individ- 
ually from  the  "breath  of  life"  is  a  condition  apart, 
separated  by  an  impassable  gulf  from  any  institution  of 
polity.  Polit>',  therefore,  is  not  related  to  spiritual  in- 
spiration, however  diligently  the  learned  men  of  the  past 
strove  to  make  it  so.  The  progress  of  America  proves, 
excepting  the  power  of  written  language  to  be  quibbled 
with,  that  polity  is  confined  to  visible  things,  and  the 
sacredness  of  personality  was  not  only  individual,  but 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  367 

the  only  source  by  which  spiritual  inspiration  was  ever 
revealed  to  man. 

Whatever  objection  a  person,  or  any  body  of  persons, 
can  make  by  recognizing  what  the  Bible  distinctly  re- 
cords, will  not  affect  the  relation  a  straw,  between  the 
spiritual  government  and  a  political  government,  for 
freedom  and  progressive  intelligence  are  breathed  into 
every  human  being  at  birth,  as  experience  and  con- 
sciousness affirms.  If  this  could  be  considered  a  danger- 
ous doctrine  to  teach,  it  could  be  replied  that  what  the 
"breath  of  life"  reveals  to  the  human  being  is  no  doc- 
trine to  be  taught  to  anyone.  Besides  the  inspiration  of 
progress  was  never  imparted  to  a  single  human  being 
by  any  external  polity.  It  can  scarcely  be  more  danger- 
ous for  posterity  to  assert  their  spiritual  freedom  than 
it  has  been  in  the  past;  besides  it  must  be  due  to  ex- 
treme timidity  to  imagine  that  the  wheels  of  progress 
ever  turn  back.  The  appeal  to  fear  is  too  attractive  for 
a  sudden  burst  of  courage  to  endanger  the  equipoise  of 
progress.  The  greatest  danger  is  the  attractions  that 
appear  to  be  the  only  haven  of  safety,  which  in  pro- 
portion to  the  attraction,  one  is  led  to  destruction  as 
sure  as  night  follows   day. 

What  is,  rather  than  what  has  been,  is  more  important 
to  observe.  No  apology  for  the  past  will  justify  a  con- 
tinuance of  past  methods  when  results  of  teaching  an 
exemption  from  personal  obliga^tions  are  so  glaring. 
That  it  was  possible  for  a  few  in  the  past  to  live  in  idle- 
ness, or  as  a  non-producer  of  the  necessities  of  life,  is 
no  comparison  with  the  present.  The  necessity  for  food 
entails  a  necessity  to  labor;  someone  must  earn  it,  and 
for  a  person  to  deprive  the  laborer  of  the  fruit  of  his 
earnings  was  in  ancient  times  considered  more  honor- 


368  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

able  than  to  earn  it.  It  is  tedious  to  read  the  apologies 
for  the  past  with  a  reflection  upon  the  present,  that  the 
necessity  for  what  is  termed  culture  justifies  appropri- 
ating the  earnings  of  the  uncultured.  There  is  no  more 
difference  in  the  end  desired  at  the  present  time  than  at 
any  previous  period ;  it  is  only  in  the  method. 

The  "breath  of  life"  precedes  the  "fall"  which  is  es- 
sential to  progress,  and  the  contact  with  an  object  es- 
tablishes experience.  The  letter  follows  as  a  shadow 
from  whatever  object  it  is  cast.  That  is,  the  march  of 
progress  is  led  by  experience,  followed  by  the  letter  and 
symbol,  that  never  precedes  experience.  A  fact  that 
any  one  can  deny,  which  would  be  less  difficult  than  for 
the  individual  denying  it,  to  prove  that  his  own  experi- 
ence was  led  by  the  letter  of  knowledge  rather  than 
knowledge  direct.  Equivalent  to  a  declaration  that  a 
man  follows  and  obeys  his  own  shadow.  The  wisdom 
of  all  ages  has  tried  to  reverse  this  principle  and  dem- 
onstrate that  the  language  of  speech,  and  later  the 
letter,  leads  the  march  of  progress.  No  one  need  take 
the  trouble  to  dispute  it,  who  has  courage  enough  to  try 
the  experiment,  for  he  will  soon  learn  what  progress 
means   compared  to  passive  intelligence. 

The  delusion  is  at  present  dependent  upon  increased 
attractions  to  obtain  followers,  upon  which  it  depends 
for  sustenance.  Greed,  oppression,  and  the  letter  are  all 
on  the  material  side  of  existence,  and  being  visible  they 
present  greater  attraction  than  the  visibility  of  spirit, 
the  communion  with  which,  being  always  individual 
by  reason  that  the  title  to  the^  "breath  of  life"  is 
not  transferable.  It  presents  a  complexed  difficulty 
for  two  persons  to  commune,  unless  experience  is  rec- 
ognized as  the  leading  principle  of  knowledge.     Such 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  369 

exparte  evidence  as  maintaining  that  intelligence  is  ever 
indirectly  imparted  to  a  human  being  would  destroy  the 
effectiveness  of  experience  in  asserting  its  spiritual  auth- 
ority to  contend  such  a  passive  condition ;  the  very  limita- 
tion of  progress.  Intelligence  is  not  progress  any  more 
than  an  egg  is  a  hen,  for  the  reason  that  progress  is  active 
and  intelligence  is  passive.  This  assertion  could  be  read- 
ily objected  to  if  it  was  held  to  be  a  theory  or  a  doc- 
frine,  but  experience  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  for 
a  person  might  feel  that  he  was  progressive  by  reason 
of  his  ability  to  wear  borrowed  acquirements  of  an  im- 
proved pattern.  It  would  not  relate  to  either  experi- 
ence or  progress  from  the  spiritual  or  real  standpoint. 

Light  would  be  equivalent  to  passive  annihilation; 
except  for  its  companion  darkness,  it  would  have  no 
more  progressive  feature  than  empty  space.  The  shad- 
ow, however,  should  never  be  mistaken  for  the  object 
from  which  it  is  cast,  and  when  it  is  observed  how 
convenient  it  is  to  hide  in  the  shadow  of  a  leader,  it  is 
not  strange  that  timid  people  always  feel  safer  em- 
braced within  the  shadow  of  some  object  rather  than 
to  make  the  effort  to  cast  a  shadow  of  their  own.  While 
this  is  figurative  it  might  be  a  profitable  study  to  con- 
sider whether  light  revealed  more  than  darkness  hid. 
It  also  presents  to  experience  how  simple  the  real  ob- 
stacles to  progress  are,  after  fear  is  conquered,  and 
false  attractions  are  discovered  to  be  delusions. 

The  observation  that  fear  can  be  imparted  or  taught 
to  a  hundred  persons  who  could  be  held  with  scarcely 
any  effort  to  a  strict  attention,  while  to  inspire  a  single 
one  with  courage  is  important  to  consider,  when  the 
relation  between  the  immediate  and  the  mediate  is  the 
end  in  view.     Because  science  and    theory    can  wander 


ZyO  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

in  Space  with  the  freedom  of  ideal  imagination,  con- 
tending with  each  other  in  search  of  means  to  justify 
the  transcending  of  experience  by  human  thought,  they 
reach  out  too  far,  while  the  range  of  speculation  cannot 
ascend  a  fraction  above  their  own  experience.  When 
science  discovers  a  method  of  analyzing  Spirit,  love, 
feeling  and  the  desire  to  progress,  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence will  cease  to  be  a  burden,  and  life  would  be  an 
endless  dream.  If  a  person  cannot  discover  the  omni- 
potence of  God  as  revealed  to  himself,  how  could  he 
expect  to  discover  the  same  revelation  bestowed  upon 
another  ? 

The  willingness  of  a  person  to  recognize  that  he  is 
only  a  part  of  the  whole,  equally  dependent  upon  the 
breath  of  life,  in  common  with  every  being  in  his  own 
image,  it  would  make  the  burden  of  existence  lighter  in 
proportion  as  he  eased  his  anxious  thoughts  trying  to 
find  some  one  who  could  not  only  carry  their  own  burden, 
but  relieve  him  also.  The  communion  of  Spirit  is  so 
strictly  empirical,  that  it  presents  a  gulf  as  impassable 
as  that  between  Spirit  and  Matter,  and  the  proof  of  it  is 
a  personal  experience  with  one's  own  experience.  The 
inconsistent  sentiment  of  justifying  oppression  with  a 
proclaimed  purpose  of  improving  the  oppressed  merely 
hides  the  selfishness  that  prompts  the  act.  When  slavery 
was  the  rule  and  freedom  a  rare  exception,  it  was  justi- 
fied as  a  necessity  to  the  march  of  progress.  If  the  dis- 
position of  progress  had  not  been  a  part  of  human  or- 
ganism, it  would  be  false  to  the  most  apologetic  system 
of  logic,  to  claim  that  men  eager  to  appropriate  the 
labor  of  others  for  their  own  benefit,  were  also  eager 
to  bestow  freedom  upon  men  in  their  own  image,  by 
denying  to  them  the  equal  opportunity  to  progress. 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  37I 

The  ability  of  men  learned  in  written  language,  are 
able  to  so  distort  words  as  to  make  it  appear  that  the 
slave  was  given  his  freedom  by  the  humane  action  of  his 
so-called  superiors;  it  is  made  to  appear  true,  while  in 
fact  it  is  false.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  question  asked 
in  a  derisive  manner:  How  could  it  be  possible  for  the 
slaves  to  liberate  themselves?  They  were  liberated  by 
the  inborn  disposition  to  progress,  as  demonstrated  by 
a  common  disposition  in  the  most  primitive  man. 
The  effort  of  the  more  developed  to  compel  the  lesser 
developed  to  admit  an  obligation  to  whoever  claims  to 
be  their  superior,  proves  conclusively  that  man  with 
greedy  expectations,  is  just  as  ready  as  ever  to  enslave 
whoever  can  be  compelled  to  submit. 

People  extremely  anxious  to  protect  their  own  inter- 
ests, and  then  apologize  for  the  means  employed,  would 
not  take  kindly  to  a  suggestion  that  progress  was  a  sup- 
plement to  intelligence  of  a  universal  character,  mark- 
ing the  distinction  of  humanity  from  animal  life.  De- 
grees of  the  force  do  not  change  the  spiritual  relation 
of  the  intrinsic  character  of  progressive  intelligence 
considered  apart  from  matter  and  polity.  Opinions  are 
an  equal  privilege  since  personal  contract  labor  has 
succeeded  chattel  slavery;  this  is  only  sentimental  for 
even  cultivated  man  gives  no  evidence  as  a  rule,  that  the 
disposition  of  oppression  is  mitigated  by  culture  as  di- 
rected by  polity.  It  is  an  observation  also,  that  progres- 
sive intelligence  is  a  principle  that  will  not  permit  of 
qualification  by  reason  of  its  universal  character.  No 
person  can  deny  it  without  betraying  an  ostentation  of 
superiority,  with  only  external  appearances  to  sustain 
it.  That  is,  the  most  primitive  man  that  used  tools 
and  discovered  how  to  produce  fire,  demonstrated  the 


2;j2  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

essential  feature  of  progress,  which  the  most  developed 
scientist  was  equally  dependent  upon;  the  degree  of  re- 
sults having  no  effect  upon  the  cardinal  principle  of 
either  intelligence  or  progress. 

Neither  the  oppressor  or  greedy  could  be  expected 
to  take  kindly  to  any  progressive  reform  that  would 
deprive  such  of  the  desired  end.  Also  history  is  evi- 
dence that  the  oppressor  was  simply  more  oppressive  in 
proportion  to  his  volume  of  intelligence.  This  seeming 
incongruity  could  be  accounted  for  from  the  readiness 
by  which  fear  could  be  taught,  and  the  disposition  of 
the  most  learned  to  employ  their  early  discoveries  in 
frightening  the  credulous.  Education,  however,  as  the 
extreme  opposite  of  teaching,  admits  of  the  recognition 
of  universal  intelligence,  however  "low"  the  type  of  a 
human  being  may  be.  Teaching  to  the  contrary  which 
is  too  closely  related  to  polity  and  oppression  to  be  other 
than  an  obstruction  to  progress,  by  reason  also  of  the 
more  developed  as  a  rule  clinging  to  the  prerogatives 
of  the  past,  rather  than  acknowledge  that  the  lowest 
tyj>e  of  humanity  is  a  part  of  the  whole,  and  the  whole 
is  God.  It  may  be  pantheism,  fatalism,  or  anthropo- 
morphism, but  it  has  not  stayed  the  march  of  human 
progress.  Thus  from  whence  he  means,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  fear  and  polity  will  ever  gain  a  substan- 
tial victory  over  love  and   courage. 

The  person  who  lacks  courage  to  contend  against  the 
ridicule  of  empiricism,  is  well  developed  in  the  culture 
of  fear.  Besides,  ridicule  betrays  more  conceit  than  it 
does  refinement.  Oppression  will  cease  with  the  modem 
form  of  slavery;  at  least,  to  the  individual  with  courage 
enough  to  recognize  that  what  is  directly  revealed  con- 
cerns him  more  as  a  factor  of  progress,  than  all  the  fear 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  373 

that  is  imparted  to  him  by  his  surroundings.  No  stu- 
dent of  history  could  fail  to  observe  that  empirical  cou- 
rage was  always  the  prime  factor  of  progress,  and  also 
the  only  successful  opponent  of  polity  which  thrives 
upon  the  teaching  of  fear  to  the  populace.  God  never 
revealed  to  any  one  man  authority  to  deprive  another 
of  reading  the  Scriptures  and  silently  determining  for 
himself  the  relation  of  direct  revelation  to  the  indirect. 
The  polity  of  maintaining  an  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
tures, with  the  persistent  effort  also  to  teach  a  child  an 
obligation  to  its  predecessors  for  knowledge  (God)  will 
decline  in  proportion  to  the  natural  development  of 
progressive   intelligence. 

It  generates  anger  and  violent  resentment  to  show  a 
disregard  for  a  progressive  ambition  that  an  illiterate 
man  can  feel,  and  having  no  literal  method  of  defence 
is  compelled  to  submit  to  degradation.  A  person  could 
be  learned  in  a  foreign  language  and  treated  with  indig- 
nity by  a  person  less  learned  in  some  other  tongue.  It 
shows  how  inconsistent  two  persons  could  be  simply 
because  neither  would  recognize  that  language  was  not 
intelligence  or  knowledge,  any  more  than  the  label  on  a 
bottle  was  responsible  for  the  contents  of  the  bottle. 

An  illiterate  blacksmith  could  be  skillful  in  making  a 
horse  shoe,  by  virtue  of  his  progressive  intelligence, 
while  by  the  distortion  of  language  he  could  be  de- 
graded by  a  man  learned  in  letters  which  were  equally 
as  artificial  as  the  horse  shoe.  To  take  advantage  of  a 
person  ignorant  of  defence,  is  equivalent  to  putting  a 
premium  on  vice  and  a  tax  on  natural  virtue.  Rewards 
and  punishment  disturbed  the  evident  sincerity  of  Butler 
when  he  wrote  the  "Analogy,"  but  with  his  convictions 
of  the  divine  appointment  of  Kings,  it  is  not  strange 


374  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

that  he  could  not  conceive  of  a  natural  religion,  and  a 
universal  intelligence  revealed  to  entire  humanity  in 
common.  Whatever  defence  that  man  can  conceive  for 
literal  morality,  it  will  never  detract  from  the  spiritual, 
that  the  most  illiterate  cannot  be  deprived  of,  by  any 
language  that  art  has  yet  produced. 

Progress  does  not  improve  intelligence  an  atom,  for 
the  reason  that  f>erfection  is  a  word  that  relates  to  an 
ultimate  condition,  and  if  the  word  intelligence  can  be 
politically  distorted  to  relate  to  a  literal  conveyance,  the 
evil  is  in  the  definitions  of  the  symbol  rather  than  the 
principles  it  relates  to.  Because  children  are  taught,  (by 
inference  from  books)  that  knowledge  is  derived  from 
its  predecessors,  it  could  grow  to  mature  age  with  ex- 
ternal appearance  of  culture  and  refinement,  with  the 
brain  cells  scaled  against  what  the  exclusive  privilege 
of  experience  reveals,  that  knowledge  and  intelligence 
are  only  possible  by  a  direct  touch  of  the  perfection  of 
God.  A  teacher  being  obliged  to  quibble  between  polity 
and  moral  conviction,  is  responsible  to  God  for  deliber- 
ately attempting  to  "impart  knowledge"  or  employ  terms 
that  tacitly  convey  what  is  false. 

A  thousand  people  can  be  led  by  false  attractions 
with  less  eflFort  than  a  single  one  can  be  redeemed,  yet 
passive  intelligence  is  not  a  crime,  for  progress  from 
a  natural  point  of  view  is  identical,  and  equally  as  un- 
certain as  birth.  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  teach  vir- 
tue, while  it  is  possible  to  teach  vice,  since  to  "fall"  in 
ignorance  is  a  virtue,  or  progress  would  be  a  failure, 
but  to  fall  in  knowledge  would  be  vice. 


THE  ECX)NOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  375 


CHAPTER   XLIV. 

WHAT  IT  MEANS. 

npHE  Utter  impossibility  of  conveying  Knowledge, 
-■■  which  is  to  know  God.  The  limit  of  conveyance  or 
correspondence  between  man  and  man,  is  relatively,  by 
the  comparison  of  objects,  which  introduces  language 
however  crude,  yet  the  very  essence  of  communication, 
the  cardinal  principle  of  which,  being  as  positive  and 
intrinsic  as  the  presence  of  man  on  earth.  The  only 
literal  proof  that  the  imperfection  of  written  language 
will  permit,  is  the  perfection  of  the  babe  "in  the  image 
of  God,"  to  dispute  which  man  never  committed  a 
greater  sin,  equivalent  to  denying  his  own  presence  and 
the  power  of  God  to  reveal  knowledge  direct  to  every 
being  "in  the  image  of  God." 

Evil  requires  no  accounting  for,  as  it  is  too  conspicu- 
ous and  visible  to  be  included  in  the  indivisibility  of 
Knowledge,  other  than  its  empirical  personality  to 
which  every  being  possesses  a  clear  title,  by  reason  of 
the  "breath  of  life."  Man  was  compelled  to  be  active 
previous  to  having  any  choice  of  methods.  The  uncon- 
scious activity  established  a  contact  that  developed  a 
consciousness  of  his  own  existence.  It  was  so  satis- 
factory and  such  a  perfect  success,  that  he  no  sooner 
discovered  he  had  a  will  of  his  own,  than  he  commenced 
to  develop  greed.  He  also  dveloped  a  commanding  dis- 
position, and  also  one  of  tranquility  which  was  neutral- 


2!j(>  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

ized  by  responsibility,  when  a  moral  sense  was  touched 
to  counteract  his  greed. 

The  converse  relation  between  polity  and  education, 
has  been  a  continual  dispute  that  corresponds  with  the 
necessity  of  activity,  but  the  moral  regulation,  akin  to 
the  sense  of  responsibility,  would  not  permit  of  the 
destruction  of  the  human  race  from  the  enthusiasm  of 
any  single  person.  Every  method  that  ingenuity  could 
suggest  has  been  employed  to  prevent  the  populace  ob- 
taining a  simple  understanding  of  written  language. 
Polity  is  just  as  busy  at  the  present  time  in  seeking 
methods  to  hide  from  the  populace  that  they  have  always 
possessed  a  clear  title  to  the  direct  revelation  of  Know- 
ledge. The  effort  to  continue  teaching  a  method  of  dis- 
torting written  language,  is  for  the  same  purpose,  that 
the  ancients  employed  in  confining  the  art  of  learning 
to  as  few  persons  as  possible.  Written  history  will  prove 
all  the  duplicity  of  the  past,  to  any  j>erson  who  will  take 
the  trouble  to  translate  it  into  a  language  of  simple  un- 
derstanding. There  can  be  no  other  motive  for  holding 
written  language  at  such  an  extravagant  distance  from 
the  populace,  than  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  teach- 
ing over  natural  education  as  directly  revealed  from 
God. 

An  intrinsic  principle  cannot  be  changed  by  relative 
symbols  that  can  be  changed  and  defined  at  the  pleasure 
of  art.  For  instance,  the  word  "religion"  may  be  de- 
fined to  justify  the  polity  of  excluding  it  from  the  pub- 
lic schools,  while  morality  is  permitted  to  be  taught.  If 
that  order  does  not  imply  that  religion  is  immoral  the 
alternative  must  be  chosen  that  symbols  are  more  per- 
fect than  the  principles  they  represent.  Religion  and 
education   were   applied   to   a    single   principle   by   the 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  377 

ancients,  and  standard  definitions  must  be  scrupulously 
maintained  or  the  purpose  reflects  a  false  intent,  more 
immoral  than  moral.  If  professed  teachers  betray  a 
privilege  of  evading  morality  or  the  truth,  some  pupils 
at  least  will  be  bright  enough  to  observe  the  inconsis- 
tency. 

The  point  is,  for  a  teacher  to  determine,  whether  relig- 
ion is  moral  or  immoral.  If  polity  treats  religious  insti- 
tutions as  educational  by  exempting  them  from  taxation, 
it  practically  recognizes  that  religion  was  moral,  and 
from  the  inconsistent  order,  forbidding  religion  to  be 
taught  in  the  public  schools  it  would  reverse  the  infer- 
ence that  religion  was  immoral  by  implying  that  educa- 
tion was.  To  compel  a  parent  to  submit  a  child  to 
whatever  authority  polity  directs,  is  only  a  different  form 
of  slavery;  whether  it  is  necessary  to  progress  or  not, 
it  is  not  in  accord  with  Christianity. 

Religion  is  clothed  in  a  variety  of  definitions  that  re- 
flects polity  more  than  truth  or  morality.  A  general 
definition,  however,  that  religion  was  the  relation  be- 
tween man  and  God  could  be  distorted  for  some  con- 
venient end.  For  instance,  a  relation  between  man  and 
God  signifies  exactly  what  polity  has  ever  tried  to  main- 
tain when  in  truth  there  is  no  relation  other  than  a 
unity  of  Spirit  between  God  and  man,  for  if  there  were, 
polemic  controversy,  dogmatics,  and  counter  apologetics 
would  never  have  an  object  for  dispute;  a  relation  that 
the  "breath  of  life"  had  previously  established.  The 
continued  effort  and  failure  to  establish  a  relation  be- 
tween God  and  man  is  the  best  proof  there  is  no  such 
literate  relation,  besides  every  babe  that  is  born  is  a 
living  proof  of  it;  allowing  it  can  be  taught  to  deny 
it  after  consciousness  was  revealed.     Because  it  cannot 


378  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

be  demonstrated  by  letter  or  symbol  is  all  the  more  proof 
that  there  is  no  relation  between  God  and  man  that  can 
be  literally  symbolized.  Because  polity  can  frighten 
parents  and  attract  children  to  expect  things  that  escape 
them  the  moment  they  are  reached,  it  does  not  in  any 
sense  effect  the  communion  of  Spirit,  which  if  related 
to  itself  even  to  satisfy  the  fastidious,  it  would  be  no 
less  itself. 

The  polity  of  trying  to  teach  an  obedience  to  literal 
authority,  in  imitation  of  the  sacerdotal  effort  of  the 
past,  betrays  a  contempt  for  both  freedom  and  Christian- 
ity. The  impossibility  of  teaching  anything  of  a  spir- 
itual character  without  clinging  to  the  methods  of  the 
pagans,  must  be  apparent  to  any  one  having  spiritual 
respect  for  Christianity.  Religion  and  education  from 
a  spiritual  standpoint  relate  to  the  same  moral  duty, 
and  when  polity  tries  to  teach  morality  in  the  public 
schools  and  exclude  religion,  the  incongruity  of  such 
effort  is  too  glaring  to  be  constantly  disguised,  for  if 
morality  depends  upon  weaning  a  child  from  its  spir- 
itual conception  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  introducing 
a  literal  conception  designed  by  polity,  it  could  not  have 
been  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  obscure  the  truth. 

Polity  is  not  in  accord  with  the  United  States  Con- 
sitution,  either  in  the  letter  or  spirit  of  it,  for  polity 
disputes  itself  in  establishing  compulsory  education  and 
then  forbidding  the  teaching  of  religion,  assuming  that 
morality  can  be  better  imparted  by  compulsion  than  by 
spiritual  revelation.  The  sentiment  of  the  divine  right 
of  Kings  is  more  arbitrarily  usurped  by  Legislators  than 
by  modern  Kings.  It  is  absurd  for  Legislators  to  assert 
that  they  represent  the  people,  when  they  are  controlled 
by  polity  which  in  turn  is  controlled  by  predominating 


THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  379 

interests,  which  the  people  also  are  compelled  to  serve 
by  an  extravagant  system  of  education,  so  attractive 
that  material  prospects  may  be  conserved  regardless  of 
the  truth  of  morality;  or  whether  expectations  are  real- 
ized or  not.  It  is  no  blind  assertion,  for  anyone  taking 
the  trouble  to  study  the  situation  could  observe,  that 
since  Socrates  first  sowed  the  seed  of  religious  and 
educational  freedom,  followed  by  the  multitude  of  mar- 
tyrs since,  all  nations  of  the  earth  have  used  their  mili- 
tant power  to  prevent  the  growth  of  principle.  The 
States  of  America  grew  great  upon  the  mere  declaration 
of  the  principle  of  Christianity,  but  it  wears  the  label 
of  Democracy  with  ill  grace,  since  it  was  forced  to  re- 
sort to  compulsory  education  for  fear  its  political  power 
would  wane,  and  the  United  States  would  become  a 
Democracy  in  fact,  as  well  as  to  bear  the  label.  What 
better  proof  exists  than  compulsory  education?  Is  it 
the  will  of  the  people  to  be  compelled  to  be  free?  Is, 
there  any  period  in  history  when  a  nation  or  master 
ever  took  the  trouble  to  compel  its  subjects  to  be  free? 
Can  polity  succeed  in  supplanting  religion  by  a  system 
of  artificial  morality,  that  depends  for  success  upon  the 
support  of  a  written  language,  that  is  false  to  the  car- 
dinal principle  of  education,  and  spiritual  character  of 
Christianity?  Besides,  seeking  by  the  literary  talent 
to  teach  the  child  an  obligation  to  its  predecessors  for 
knowledge,  when  that  is  also  false? 

Washington  declared:  "Let  us  with  caution  indulge 
the  supposition  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without 
religion." 

The  record  of  polity  in  the  past  shows  nothing  but 
failure  from  its  effort  to  control  religion — ancient  edu- 
cation— or  Christianity — modern  liberty.     Will  the  mere 


380  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

changing  the  symbol  of  religion  to  that  of  education 
establish  virtue  in  modern  polity  that  the  ancients'  type 
never  possessed?  While  the  object  in  controling  edu- 
cation is  the  same  as  the  ancient  polity  in  trying  to  con- 
trol religion,  and  later  the  vain  efforts  of  the  Roman 
Empire  for  a  thousand  years  to  control  Christianity,  it 
would  appear,  at  least  to  the  learned,  that  God  does 
not,  or  ever  did  rule  the  world  by  a  representative  proxy. 
If  one  feels  obliged  to  cling  to  literal  vagaries  in  ex- 
change for  the  spiritual,  no  one  need  to  follow  in  the 
shadow  of  such  a  crystalized  object,  for  allowing  that 
children  are  compelled  by  polity  to  go  to  school,  it  is 
the  limit  of  political  power  when  the  child  reaches  the 
school-house,  for  the  vagaries  of  text  books  and  litera- 
ture, can  only  be  forced  upon  a  child  by  the  medium 
of  fear  or  attraction.  If  a  teacher  can  teach  morality 
without  teaching  religion,  it  would  exclude  both  truth 
and  spiritual  morality  from  the  public  schools.  So- 
called  culture  and  refinement  in  the  absence  of  morality, 
is  an  ideal  dream  that  never  blossoms  or  fruits.  The 
evidence  is  becoming  more  prominent  that  artificial 
morality,  that  the  present  system  of  education  is  ac- 
countable for,  by  reasons  before  stated,  that  even  the 
caution  of  Washington  recognized  a  hundred  years  ago, 
practically,  that  religion  and  education  related  to  the 
same  moral  principle;  it  needs  no  phenomenal  wisdom 
to  determine  the  motive  in  trying  to  make  a  sublime 
principle  subjective  on  one  side,  and  objective  on  the 
other. 

It  is  just  as  possible  to  destroy  the  natural  power  of 
a  child  to  construct  thoughts  by  virtue  of  its  revealed 
knowledge,  as  it  would  be  to  break  its  legs  to  prevent 
it  from  walking.     It  is  out  of  character  in  a  govern- 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  381 

ment  that  professes  to  protect  the  common  interests  of 
all,  to  maintain  a  dual  character  of  education,  the  one 
formular  and  the  other  practical,  both  of  which  being 
derived  from  a  common  knowledge.  The  formular, 
however,  is  made  attractive,  while  the  practical  is  con- 
fined to  fear.  It  serves  to  silence  the  populace  by  fear 
which  cultivates  a  subserviency  to  the  formular  of  lan- 
guage, by  the  attraction  of  future  prospects,  which  is 
silenced  by  disappointment.  The  cemeteries  are  a  silent 
witness  of  greed  seeking  to  elevate  the  literal  above  the 
spiritual,  which  the  ambiguity  of  words  can  never  apolo- 
gize for  successfully. 

Education  could  not  be  successfully  prohibited  if  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  should  combine  to  prevent  it, 
for  that  reason  the  political  feature  of  compulsion,  be- 
trays a  motive  as  adverse  to  the  enlightment  of  the 
common  people  as  the  former  effort  to  prevent  it.  The 
Southern  States  are  adverse  to  the  introduction  of  com- 
pulsory education,  for  fear  the  colored  race  will  de- 
velop qualities  beyond  the  control  of  the  whites.  It 
presents  a  condition  having  no  parallel  in  history,  when 
education  and  religion  were  both  free  to  so  large  a 
group  of  people  in  one  body.  The  result  can  be 
watched  with  some  interest  as  a  rebuke  to  political  in- 
terference with  the  liberty  of  the  white  race,  in  con- 
trast with  10,000,000  colored  people  enjoying  a  freedom 
that  was  never  permitted  by  any  nation  before.  Not  the 
least  remarkable  is  their  ambition  for  education  and 
religion  both,  in  strange  contrast  to  a  proclaimed  neces- 
sity of  compelling  the  white  race  to  be  educated. 

If  the  illiterate  and  so-called  ignorant  are  the  natural 
wards  of  the  educated,  what  moral  relation  has  polity 
which  has  no  respect  for  truth  or  religion?    It  is  a  per- 


382  THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

sonal  responsibility,  for  polity  is  the  objective  that  every 
subject  must  encounter  as  the  pitfall,  to  either  shun  or 
embrace.  There  is  no  escape  from  the  alternative  of 
this  choice  practically  a  choice  between  direct  and  in- 
direct knowledge.  There  is  no  polity  connected  with 
religion  or  Christianity  except  what  polity  tries  to  com- 
pel people  to  believe.  There  are  two  glaring  reasons 
that  the  educated  are  responsible  for  individually.  First, 
the  support  of  such  an  inconsistency  as  the  division  of  a 
moral  principle,  by  recognizing  two  symbols  at  the  com- 
mand of  polity — religion  and  education.  No  man  can 
be  educated  without  knowing  whether  he  is  serving 
polity  or  morality.  The  second  reason  is,  that  the  am- 
biguity of  written  language  is  maintained  by  polity,  to 
prevent  the  illiterate  from  discovering  that  they  are  not 
in  any  sense  obligated  to  their  predecessors  for  either 
knowledge,  or  education  proper.  It  is  a  responsibility 
as  strictly  personal  as  the  freedom  of  the  will,  to  with- 
hold the  knowledge  that  education  is  purposely  man- 
aged to  prevent  the  common  people  from  learning  too 
much,  rather  than  an  honest  purpose  of  trying  to  en- 
lighten them. 

If  education  and  religion  are  companions  in  benefi- 
cence and  virtue,  how  can  a  person  justify  his  conduct 
to  himself,  and  hold  to  an  extravagant  system  of  edu- 
cation when  he  knows  it  could  be  so  economically  con- 
ducted, that  personal  freedom  could  be  as  common  as 
the  "breath  of  life?"  If  polity  and  the  devil  really  rule 
the  world,  how  can  a  man  submit  to  it  and  be  satisfied 
that  he  is  serving  God  also?  No  person  is  obliged  to 
submit  or  serve  any  polity  in  opposition  to  his  moral 
convictions,  but  if  he  does  not  recognize  the  equal  right 
of  another  to  enjoy  the  same  freedom,  he  betrays  more 


THE   ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION.  383 

egotism  than  morality,  of  which  a  mere  child  will  ob- 
serve more  readily  than  precepts  however  profoundly 
uttered  in  language  that  can  be  distorted  to  accommo- 
date any  polity  desired. 

Because  a  parent  and  child  both  can  be  misled  is 
conclusive  that  they  can  also  be  led  by  benevolence; 
but  in  justice  to  the  child  it  should  be  observed  that  it 
often  shows  more  perfect  logic  before  going  to  school 
than  after;  and  an  unprejudiced  person  could  notice 
that  the  natural  disposition  of  the  child  has  a  preference 
for  goodness.  All  is  changed,  however,  when  false  at- 
tractions are  encountered  and  the  growth  of  fear  has 
to  be  contended  with.  Who  is  more  responsible  for  the 
future  of  a  child  than  one  who  would  mislead  it  with 
false  attractions,  and  smother  its  first  bright  hopes  of 
life  by  a  continual  parade  of  fear?  Is  it  beneficence  to 
justify  a  dishonest  act  of  compulsory  education  with  the 
avowed  purpose  of  improving  humanity,  when  a  greater 
benefit  accrues  to  the  would-be  benefactor,  than  to  the 
prospective  benefited?  Is  it  honest  for  a  person  to  as- 
sist in  maintaining  a  system  of  education  made  difficult 
to  protect  an  exclusive  class  of  society,  when  he  who 
knows  how  to  distort  words,  must  necessarily  know  how 
to  simplify  them?  Again,  can  a  purpose  be  moral  and 
honest  when  the  only  method  to  reach  it,  is  to  "fall;" 
and  then  fall  in  knowledge  for  the  sake  of  the  benefice? 
It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  to  "fall"  in  ig- 
norance is  a  virtue,  compared  with  a  fall  in  knowledge. 
If  the  inference  could  be  drawn  that  a  compulsory  sys- 
tem maintained  by  polity  was  not  what  it  is  represented 
to  be,  what  apology  can  a  person  make  for  defending 
polity,  and  neglecting  moral  obligations,  that  are  re- 
vealed to  the  babe  from  the  "breath  of  life?" 


384  THE  ECONOMY   OF   EDUCATION. 

Besides,  who  can  explain  the  motive  of  recognizing 
the  freedom  of  religion,  and  then  deny  that  the  principle 
of  education  is  not  entitled  to  the  same  recognition?  Is 
freedom  so  dangerous  that  only  an  exclusive  few  can 
be  trusted  to  impart  it  to  the  many? 

It  explains  what  it  means;  that  the  Economy  of  Ed- 
ucation would  reform  present  social  corruption,  just  as 
soon  as  parents  have  courage  enough  to  defy  polity  and 
protect  their  children.  If  education  is  a  virtue,  its  econ- 
omy would  aid  distribution  and  detract  nothing  from 
its  cardinal  virtue. 

The  End. 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


W.  A.  STURDY 


tf  lie  legenernri]  nt  Iriatormi] 


Boston,  J.  D.  BONNELL  &  SON,  J907.  36 J  pages. 


TRANSLATION    FROM    ITALIAN 

PEW  books  offer,  as  this,  a  chance  to  meditate  over  human 
events  and  the  manifold  aspects  in  which  they  may  be  con- 
sidered. The  attempt  to  reduce  the  whole  history  of  the 
nations  to  a  simple  formula,  very  short  and  comprehensive, 
is  not  new ;  but  just  because  the  thinkers  have  given  us  innumerable 
formulas,  every  attempt  of  such  a  kind  has  miscarried,  and  it  only 
shows  that  the  different  phases  the  strong  social  events  offer  us,  cannot 
be  all  embraced  in  one  glance  and  described  or  analyzed  by  one 
mind.  This  book,  no  doubt,  is  unusually  suggestive,  so  strong  is  the 
rigorous  logic  in  which  the  author  closely  pursues  his  reasoning.  But 
the  reader  cannot  help  rebelling,  when  he  sees  that  his  own  thought 
is  forced  by  other's  thought  to  chisel  his  ideas  in  a  prefix  plan  and  the 
rebellion  makes  him  think  upon  and  set  apart  the  truth  from  the 
sophism,  also  in  the  case  in  which  the  two  forms  are  presented  in  a 
way  so  alike,  that  can  be  confounded  with  the  Degeneration  of 
Aristocracy,  which  always  attempts  to  revive  the  whole  human 
history.  On  one  side  there  is  nature  (democracy),  on  the  other  side 
art  (aristocracy),  but  nature  tries  to  become  art  and  therefore  to  revive 
the  aristocracy. 

This  is  the  fundamental  thought  of  the  author  around  which  he 
ties,  step  by  step,  the  historic  events  of  humanity,  with  wideness  of 
ideas  and  much  learning. 

One  finds  amoung  the  thirty  seven  chapters  of  the  book,  (some 
of  them)  full  of  acute  and  also  original  observations,  as  those  on 
Schools  and  their  influence,  and  that  on  "The  Rivalry  between 
Culture  and  the  Dollar,"  etc. 

We  recommend  to  our  readers  this  book  as  very  interesting  in 
great  part. 

From  the  Italian  Magazine  ''IJECONOMISTA:* 

September  29,   1907. 


U^  .  .  £.RSIT\ 


.A  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


DEC  111915 


» 


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Unity,  and  the 
tdies  for  existing 


s,  but  the  mtro- 
ligious  freedom, 
cated  the  recog- 
published  as  an 
Herald^ 

ith  the  spirit  and 
g  topic  to  the 
Aristocracy,"  by 
listory  that  dem- 
ining  aristocracy 

jhe  recognition  of 
solutions  as  well. 

outlines  will  be 
of  the  book  still 
thought  that  the 

the  least  charm 
urdy  is  master. — 


BUt>  1  UIN 

J.    D.   BONNELL  &   SON 

And  at  all  Book  Stotes 
PRICE    $1.00    PER    COPY 


« C    OoOo / 


^Teoiuot^ 


V    ^     XV 


